New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll announced that veteran wide receiver Sterling Shepard’s left knee injury is in fact a torn ACL. Shepard suffered the injury on the Giants’ final offensive play during Monday Night’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Shepard was just three games into a comeback from a season-ending torn Achilles from last year, when jogging along the turf he suddenly reached down and grabbed his left knee, falling to the turf and then was quickly carted off the field. After the game, Daboll sounded grim about Shepard’s prognosis but did not make any announcements until Shepard underwent tests on Tuesday morning.
The Giants will now need to turn to players currently on the roster and practice squad to take Shepard’s place. Daboll said of players including David Sills V, Richie James, Darius Slayton, and practice squad players like Kalil Pimpleton and Marcus Johnson: “(General manager) Joe (Schoen) is always looking, but those guys right now who we have, we’re gonna expect them to come out here, keep improving, work hard. They’ve been picking up our stuff. We’ll see as we go.”
Shepard’s injury also raised questions about the suitability of the MetLife Stadium turf, which has caused its share of injuries over the years. Daboll said: “I’m sure that throughout the season and the off-season, we’ll sit down and discuss those types of things.”
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