New York Giants: Sterling Shepard Could Reportedly Be Out This Game, Next Game

New York Giants, Sterling Shepard
Sep 22, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard (87) catches a ball for a touchdown against Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Vernon III Hargreaves (28) and safety Mike Edwards (34) during the third quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones will have to wait to have a full arsenal of weapons at his disposal. The team has had a hard time keeping Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate on the field at the same time, dashing preseason hopes of having a dynamic offense that compensates for the loss of Odell Beckham Jr. with players such as Tate and Darius Slayton joining the offense and others like Shepard stepping their game up during the new season.

That might have been the goal before training camp, but things were quickly thrown off track when Tate was suspended for the first four games of the season thanks to a substance policy violation. The Giants would have Shepard, at least, but it wasn’t long before Shepard found himself struggling with concussions – only a couple of games into the season, in fact.

Shepard was able to bounce back from his concussion against the Bills and return to the team’s lineup, but was concussed again against the Vikings, in one of his first regular season games playing with Daniel Jones and Golden Tate in the same lineup.

This time, it seems Shepard is going to spend more time recovering – according to Jordan Raanan, Shepard isn’t going to be back for week seven’s game against the Cardinals.

Shepard could also miss the next game, potentially. It does seem drastic to keep Shepard out this long, if he does indeed miss week eight’s game also, but it’s also understandable… Shepard coming back early while suffering from two concussions in the early season wouldn’t be a great look, and probably not the best thing for Shepard’s health.

It’s been an unlucky year overall for the receiver, who since getting his new contract, has seemingly been cursed. Shepard fractured his thumb near the start of training camp, only to work his way back to playing by the time the season started, but still ended up missing time with the first of the concussions coming in only week two.

The Giants have an important game in front of them, which will decide whether the team gets back to one game behind .500, or falls into a further hole that they may not dig out of. But with the bad injury luck this year continuing, they’ll have to play it without their top receiver.