What You Need to Know:

• Shepard led the Giants with 24.1% target share over his 11 full games last season. Evan Engram checked in behind him at 22.7%, with Darius Slayton next at 17.1%.
• Shepard has lost 4+ games to injury in 3 of his past 4 seasons. Turf toe cost him 4 contests in 2020.
• Shepard has still averaged at least 5.4 receptions in each of those years.
• Shepard produced a career-high 1.77 yards per route run in 2020, despite career lows in averaged depth of target (8.6), yards after catch per reception (3.1) and yards per catch (9.9).
• A career-best 73.3% catch rate played a key role, rising vs. his 68.7% rate of 2019 and 61.7% of 2018 (before Daniel Jones arrived).
• Shepard has seen his slot snaps decrease every season. He played in the slot 85.3% of the time as a rookie, according to PFF, then 83.3%, 58.7%, 46.8% and 32.2% the past 4 years.
• The Giants signed Golden Tate last offseason to be the primary slot man. In the 4 games he missed, though, Shepard saw 73.9%, 65.7%, 34% and 41.4% slot snaps.
• He’s entering the 3rd season of a 4-year, $41 million contract.
• The Giants have added Kenny Golladay on the outside, 1st-round WR Kadarius Toney and TE Kyle Rudolph, in addition to getting Saquon Barkley back from injury. Tate is gone. The shuffling on offense could leave Shepard’s role unclear until the depth chart settles out.

Draft Sharks Bottom Line:

We might not know exactly where Shepard will line up and how often until the regular season starts. The readiness of rookie Kadarius Toney figures to play a key role, as Toney looks like a prime candidate for slot work. But the Giants clearly like Shepard in a variety of spots. His playing time and usage remained up with the coaching change. Kenny Golladay’s arrival, however, means Shepard will probably need a teammate injury if he’s to snag the team target-share lead again. Shepard’s a fine PPR stash. But when you combine the new target challengers with a Giants offense that likely doesn’t want to pass at high volume, it’s tough to get excited about Shepard’s ceiling.