Giants Country

Giants, Sterling Shepard Reach Agreement on Reduced Contract

The Giants' longest tenured player will return for a seventh season after reaching an agreement with the team to lower his 2022 salary cap hit.

Patricia Traina

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Receiver Sterling Shepard, the longest-tenured member of the New York Giants and a favorite pass target of quarterback Daniel Jones, has agreed with the team to lower his $12.495-million cap hit in 2022.

Shepard was due to earn an $8.475 million base salary this coming season. There had been reports that the team was looking to lower that amount to around $1.12 million, which would have put Shepard at the minimum for a vested veteran about to enter his seventh season. 

As part of the new deal, Shepard, who was signed through 2023, will have the final year of his contract turned into a voidable one so he can hit free agency sooner. 

However, it's unknown just how much of a pay cut he accepted or if he's being allowed to earn back any of the money he's given up, though it's believed that since hte Giants would have saved $4.5 million had they flat out cut Shepard, that's probably the savings range in which two two sides agreed to.

Shepard suffered a torn Achilles injury in Week 15, an injury that could potentially delay his availability for the start of training camp. However, Shepard is expected to be back on the field at some point, providing Jones a familiar and reliable set of hands in what's a critical upcoming year for the quarterback.

Shepard, a second-round pick by the Giants in 2016, has started in 70 of the 72 games played for the Giants. He has caught 349 out of 522 pass targets (66.8 percent) for 3,884 yards and 21 touchdowns.

Shepard also has 23 rushing attempts for 180 yards and one touchdown in his career.

Before the new agreement was reached with Shepard, the Giants were in the red overall on cap space by $7.647 million and were in the red in functional cap space by $20.198 million. 

They have already moved on from tight end Kyle Rudolph and running back Devontae Booker, so whatever they're able to save from the Shepard transaction will chip away further at the hole the Giants are in. However, there is still a lot of work to be done ahead of next week's start of the free agency period.

Update: ESPN is reporting Shepard's revised deal is worth up to $5.25 million. It's unclear though if that's base salary or total. 

Shepard was initally due to earn a base salary of $8.475 million. We'll have more details once we see how the contract is structured.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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