Shepard leaves practice with ankle injury
EAST RUTHERFORD » A major crisis appears to have been averted at Giants training camp.
Sterling Shepard, the team’s starting slot receiver who broke out as a rookie last season, left practice Wednesday morning with what head coach Ben McAdoo said “looks like” a sprained ankle.
Shortly after 11 a.m., two members of the organization escorted Shepard off the field with a cart at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Shepard was reportedly in tears, which left fans to fear for the worst as news of the scene first broke on social media.
But it doesn’t look like Shepard’s season is in jeopardy. The Giants begin the 2017 season at Dallas in 39 days.
“He was running a hammer route, put his foot in the ground and rolled his ankle,” McAdoo said. “It looks at this point like he has a rolled ankle, a basketball-type ankle. We’ll see how he responds to treatment and go from there.”
McAdoo added that the cart was brought onto the field simply as a precaution.
Shepard, the Giants’ 2016 second-round draft pick out of Oklahoma, was one of two receivers to make the Professional Football Writers of America’s All-Rookie team last year.
Shepard finished his debut season with 65 catches for 683 yards and eight touchdowns. When the Giants reported to camp last Thursday, he had a set area of improvement.