Buccaneers agree to terms with ex-Giants WR Sterling Shepard on one-year deal

Sterling Shepard appears to have found his perfect situation.

NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo reported on Thursday that the veteran receiver has accepted a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to a source.

Shepard’s move to Tampa reunites him with his former University of Oklahoma teammate Baker Mayfield, who was the last quarterback to throw Shepard passes in college before the receiver graduated to the NFL in 2016. The 2015 collegiate season was nearly a decade ago, but given the adversity Shepard has faced in recent years — including a torn Achilles in 2021 and a torn ACL in 2022 — if he were to return at 31 years old, doing so with a familiar face makes the most sense.

Shepard expressed doubts about his NFL future after the 2023 season. This was his first healthy season since 2020, during which he only played 142 snaps and caught a total of 10 passes. He explained that he would need an ideal situation to persuade him to continue playing.

“I feel like it’s too early to get into that right now,” Shepard said during a January appearance on FS1’s *The Carton Show*. “But it’s gotta be a perfect situation for me to come back to the game, to be completely honest.”

Considering how difficult the last three seasons have been for him, it would make plenty of sense for Shepard to retire, or at least take a break from the game. But at 31 years old, the time to strike is now. It doesn’t take more than a couple of banged-up seasons for the rest of the league to suddenly turn its nose up at a veteran receiver with juice still left in the tank (just ask Jarvis Landry).

Shepard is making another attempt by joining a team that is expected to be competitive enough to win its division and potentially more in 2024. It’s also likely beneficial that Mayfield is returning after a standout year and with the assurance of a contract extension. The stability in Tampa appears to be superior to that of New York, where Shepard spent much of his career.

All Shepard needs to do now is prove that he can still play at a level high enough to secure a spot on an NFL roster.