Sterling Shepard 86's 87, goes back to No. 3, his old college number
Sterling Shepard, showing at Giants OTAs on Thursday, is back to wearing No. 3 - his college number and a tribute to his late father. Credit: Mike Stobe
Sterling Shepard looked very much like his old self running routes, catching passes and even dancing in between reps at Thursday’s OTA with the Giants. The biggest difference was his attire.
The wide receiver took advantage of a new rule that allows wide receivers to wear single digits and ditched the 87 jersey he had worn through his first five NFL seasons in favor of the number he’d worn for most of his life: 3.
"It’s something that means a lot to me," Shepard said. "It's been a number that I've been since I was a little kid, after my father passed. He wore No. 3 in college. That's something that meant a lot to me, a lot to his teammates. I wanted to carry that on."
Derrick Shepard wore No. 3 at Oklahoma (the same school Sterling attended) but not during his brief NFL career. Derrick Shepard died in 1999 when Sterling was only 6.
"When I came into the league, you couldn't get single digits," Sterling Shepard said. "Whenever the rule changed, I was happy to grab that."
Bueller? Bueller?
Attendance at OTAs is voluntary, and while the Giants had a decent turnout for this first week of on-field work, there were plenty of players who decided to stay away. Among the more conspicuous absences has been that of first-round pick Kadarius Toney.
"Every opportunity you get to work with any of these players, I don't care if it's a rookie or 10-year vet, is crucial and the goal is the same this year for everyone, to develop their skills, functionalities and schematic and conceptual understanding of what we are doing," head coach Joe Judge said. "Make sure we are all speaking the same language and make sure when everyone comes back in training camp, they are in better physical shape and their bodies are more prepared to go at a faster pace and everyone is ready to compete by playing aggressive and confident in what we are asking to do fundamentally, technique-wise and schematically with the knowledge."
Judge said he did not "negotiate" with the players as some heads coaches in the NFL did, trading days off the OTA schedule to lure them into the workouts.
"I'm always very clear, very transparent with the team in terms of how we're going to practice, what we are going to do, and what our intents are going on the field and the reason behind that," he said. "We haven't had any discussions like [negotiations[. It if at some point some player wants to talk, I’m very open."
D.J. is their guy
As he has for most of the offseason, Judge continued to extol Daniel Jones in virtually every way possible. Asked if there is any possibility the Giants could look to upgrade the position before the season starts in the fall – with, say, a potentially available MVP who is unhappy in Green Bay – Judge was quick to dismiss the idea.
"Daniel Jones is our quarterback," he said.
Why is that?
"First off I'm proud of the way he works every day," Judge said. "This guy comes to work every day and whatever phase he's in, if he's in the weight room, getting treatment on field, throwing with his teammates, organizing things outside this building, the guy always has a plan of how he's going to attack things and proud to watch how he's worked."
As for what he wants to see from Jones in 2021, Judge said:
"He just has to be the best he is every day, that's what we ask of all our players … Daniel, he never shies away from a challenge, comes ready to work. Some is of the conversations we have. When we challenge him internally, this guy steps up every day to the plate and comes to work every day with a plan."
Giant steps
Third-round pick Aaron Robinson signed his rookie deal on Thursday, leaving Toney as the only unsigned member of the team’s 2021 draft class. That coupled with Toney’s absence is far from an indication of something nefarious, though. First-round picks don’t typically work out their contracts until the summer … One player who has made a big first-impression on the Giants – really big – is defensive tackle Danny Shelton, the former first-round pick who signed as a free agent. Listed at 6-2 and 345 pounds, he stretched the 7 and 5 on his jersey to the limit. "I was joking the other day: ‘No wonder he was drafted in the first round, you get three picks in one just based on how big he is,’ " linebacker Blake Martinez said of playing behind Shelton in the defense. "I tell him every single day, I'm glad I have you in front of me. I literally can't see double-teams, so there's no way they can get to me" … Linebacker Lorenzo Carter, coming back from a torn Achilles last season, was on the field and looked spry.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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