New York Giants: Sterling Shepard Is Back

The New York Giants will travel to Chicago this weekend to take on the Bears at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. The Giants are coming off of a bye week that allowed multiple vital players dealing with injuries to get healthy. 

New York will be getting a key member of their offense back from a lengthy injury. Wide receiver Sterling Shepard has been out for weeks with a concussion, but he is set to make his return to the field on Sunday, finally.

Sterling Shepard’s Injury Severity

The Giants have greatly missed having Sterling Shepard on the field. Shep has been absent from six of the Giants’ ten games this season. He has also missed the last five games that the Giants played. Concussions have kept Sterling Shepard inactive from these games.

The multitude of concussions that Sterling has suffered this season led to increased worry and speculation that the receiver might not play again this season. After all, this was Shepard’s fifth concussion. But Big Blue’s primary receiver is now healthy and cleared to play on Sunday, so he will be active for the Giants.

Sterling Shepard’s Impact

The Giants have not won a game since losing their primary receiver for five weeks. Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones has only played in three games with Sterling Shepard on the field since becoming the starter in Week 3. 

Sterling was Daniel’s favorite target when he was on the field. In all three of the games that Jones and Shepard played together, Sterling was targeted nine times each. Sterling had a 70% catch rate in those three games while totaling 225 total receiving yards. 

Daniel Jones will have his favorite target back on Sunday as the Giants face the Chicago Bears’ tough defense on the road. New York has not scored 30 or more points in a game since Week 3. Sterling Shepard’s return to the offense could give them an increased chance to end this drought.