The Jets recently signed former Giants and Bucs receiver Sterling Shepard to their practice squad. Shepard has been active several times for the Jets. Today, we break him down in detail.
The 33-year-old Shepard is listed at 5’10” and 194 pounds and was a second round pick out of Oklahoma in 2016. He had a productive NFL career with 440 receptions for nearly 5,000 yards and 25 touchdowns and although most of that production came early in his career, he has been a useful contributor over the last few seasons.
Shepard was a four-star high school recruit and committed to Oklahoma in 2012. As a true freshman, he posted a 100-yard game in his second appearance. Over the course of the season, he started four games and caught 45 passes for 621 yards and three scores.
In 2013, he started 12 of 13 games and increased his production with 51 catches for more than 600 yards and seven scores.
In 2014, he leveled up again, as he had over 900 receiving yards with a month of the season remaining. However, injuries down the stretch limited him and he finished the year with 51 catches for 970 yards and five touchdowns. It was good enough for first-team all-Big 12 recognition, though.
In his final college season, he was again a first-teamer and was also named an all-American as he had 1,288 receiving yards on 86 catches, with 11 touchdowns. The season was highlighted by an overtime win against Tennessee in which Shepard caught the game-tying and game-winning touchdowns.
Shepard was drafted by the New York Giants with the 40th overall pick in the 2016 draft and immediately made an impact with a touchdown in his first game and a 100-yard game the following week, leading to an all-rookie season.
In his first five years, he established himself as a reliable producer, catching at least 57 passes and having more than 650 receiving yards each year. He had 20 touchdowns and his highest single-season output for yardage was 872 in 2018.
Over the next three seasons with the Giants, Shepard – who signed a four-year extension before the 2019 season – saw his career derailed by injuries.
After a productive start to the 2021 season, Shepard missed several games and then suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in December. Then, in 2022, he came back and got off to a decent start only to tear his ACL in week three.
He returned in 2023, but struggled to crack the rotation and ended up with just 10 catches for 57 yards as his career appeared to be winding down.
In 2024, he ended up on the Bucs’ practice squad, where he was reunited with his college teammate Baker Mayfield. It wasn’t long before he was elevated to the active roster and he ended up starting five times and had 32 catches for 334 yards and a score in 14 appearances in a bounceback campaign.
The Bucs re-signed him for 2025 and he was again a useful player with 39 catches for 371 yards and a touchdown in 13 games, despite only two starts.
Shepard was without a team this year until the preseason when he signed with the Texans. However, he was released on final cuts eight days later. The Jets added him to their practice squad in September and elevated him for two games due to several injuries, catching two passes including a two-point conversion.
Let’s move on to some more in-depth analysis of what Shepard brings to the table, based on in-depth research and film study.
Shepard lacks perfect size but has large hands and is strong. He posted 20 bench press reps at the scouting combine.
He also posted an impressive 41-inch vertical at the scouting combine, though the rest of his numbers, including a 4.48 in the 40-yard dash, were about average for his size. It’s been more than a decade.
Shepard has played in the slot 60 percent of the time at the NFL level but can still work on the outside. In college he played outside in 2014 but in the slot in 2015 to show his versatility.
He was also an option on jet sweeps and end arounds with 17 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown in college and 36 carries for 274 yards and a touchdown in the NFL.
He played both running back and wide receiver in high school, while also playing basketball and participating in track and field events.
Shepard has a reputation as a possession receiver but has made a lot of downfield plays over the years and even led the Big 12 in yards per catch in 2014.
He hasn’t been as effective a threat downfield in recent years as he was early in his career but still makes the occasional downfield play here and there.
Shepard is considered a sure-handed receiver with a 67 percent catch rate for his career.
He dropped 20 passes in his first three seasons but has improved his efficiency even more since then as he hasn’t had more than five drops in any season since and had just one drop in 53 targets last year.
He has a great ability to adjust to the ball and make tough catches in traffic.
Shepard is also adept at stepping up to get it in fade situations and staying inbounds on sideline catches.
Shepard is a great route runner who uses foot speed, trickery and strength to generate short zone separation.
He can run a full route and is good at tracking and finding the ball early so he can tackle it.
Shepard caught 27 touchdowns in four years at the college level but wasn’t much of a red zone threat at the NFL level.
He had eight touchdowns as a rookie and has 26 in his career, but hasn’t had more than one in a season since 2020. Of those scores, 18 came inside the red zone with eight inside the three-yard line, although only one of those eight was after 2020.
The Jets did use him in the red zone on this clutch game-tying two-point conversion, though.
Shepard doesn’t break a ton of tackles but has the ability to turn upfield and dive for the marker or pylon, and can turn short passes into big plays with his speed.
He has been a solid option on screen passes throughout his career, averaging nine yards per screen pass while in Tampa Bay.
He didn’t fumble in college but had four at the NFL level.
Shepard has earned a reputation as a willing blocker who gives a great effort and prides himself on his approach. Former Giants general manger Dave Gettleman once said he was “one hell of a blocker”.
That effort is on display here as he rushes downfield to knock Josh Norman out of a downfield tackle.
In the same game, he also sparked a long touchdown run with this great block. He was actually awarded the game ball for this performance despite only catching two passes for 17 yards.
He was not called for hindering his career but was flagged for an illegal crackback block and a pair of illegal blocking back penalties.
In addition to his blocking, Shepard also showed tenacity when running routes, carrying the ball and getting caught in traffic. He also fought well against press coverage.
He may take things a little too far, however, as he has six offensive pass interference penalties in his career, in addition to four for unsportsmanlike conduct or unnecessary roughness.
Shepard has some experience as a punt returner in college, as he fielded 30 punts and averaged 7.4 yards per return.
It helped in 2023 as the Giants had to use him as an emergency punt returner but he had just 10 yards on three returns with two fair catches and a muff.
He also fielded a kickoff in college and gained 27 yards on a kickoff return after a lateral at the NFL level.
Aside from the return game, he hasn’t really been used on special teams at the NFL level with just 20 special teams snaps in his career.
Instincts and Intelligence
Shepard is adept at finding soft spots in zones and reading coverages, both in terms of pre-snap formations and the positioning of the player covering him.
His focus can let him down at times, as he has 10 pre-snap penalties in his career, including seven false starts.
Shepard is considered a great presence in the locker room and a respected mentor who can be a vocal leader. He brings energy and intensity and is always a popular teammate wherever he goes.
He also showed toughness in overcoming some of the injury issues that kept him in the league and was awarded the Ed Block Courage award while with the Giants.
Shepard’s father also played in the NFL but died when he was just six years old.
Shepard’s career was significantly affected by his Achilles injury in 2021 and ACL tear in 2022, and he also spent time on injured reserve with turf toe in 2020.
He’s had a lot of banging for the rest of his career, though, with injuries to his hamstring, quad, calf, ankle and neck. He also had multiple concussions that caused him to miss time in 2019 and missed time with groin issues during his junior year with the Sooners.
As mentioned, Shepard is a slot receiver who tends to be in a possession role but can play on the outside in a pinch.
He was in the rotation for the Lions and Bears games, playing mainly in the slot as he filled in for Omar Cooper.
During his NFL career, he was a teammate of current Jets Geno Smith, Jack Heflin, Jimmy Morrissey and Dane Belton while with the Giants. In Smith’s lone start for the Giants, Shepard caught three passes for 56 yards.
Shepard has already proven he can come in and get the job done with the Jets, although now that Tim Patrick is healthy and Omar Cooper and Adonai Mitchell should be back, it could be a while before he’s needed again.
Having been elevated from the practice squad twice, Shepard is eligible to be elevated one more time, after which he will need to be added to the 53-man roster if he is able to play again.
While the Jets hope to keep their receiver rotation intact for the rest of the year, we all know that may not be the case. So it’s nice to have a veteran option like this waiting in the wings and, even if he’s not the player he used to be, he still seems to have some left in the tank.