Tampa Bay is hurting at wide receiver. Chris Godwin (ankle) is out for the year. Mike Evans tried to play through a hamstring injury on Monday night, suffering a worse hamstring injury and may now miss multiple weeks. It's a mess.
Certainly, Cade Otton is going to be involved. He caught 8 passes for 100 yards last night. But they'll be searching for wide receiver production from reserves like Trey Palmer, Jalen McMillan and Sterling Shepard, too. The first two look better long-term, with Shepard a 31-year-old who hasn't played a ton the last three years. But don't rule out Shepard being the best bet -- the most Godwin-like guy -- this year.
Back before injuries derailed things, Shepard was a very productive pass catcher for the Giants. In three of his four seasons as a full-time starter between 2017 and 2020, he averaged over 5 catches per game. In that time period, a total of 52 players did that (minimum 50 catches); only eight others did it three times. (One of the 2-timers was Godwin.) Data from pro-football-reference.com used in compiling this table.
WRS AVERAGING OVER 5 CATCHES/GAME, 2017-2020 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Year | G | No | Rec | TD | No/G |
Michael Thomas | 2019 | 16 | 149 | 1725 | 9 | 9.3 |
Davante Adams | 2020 | 14 | 115 | 1374 | 18 | 8.2 |
Stefon Diggs | 2020 | 16 | 127 | 1535 | 8 | 7.9 |
Michael Thomas | 2018 | 16 | 125 | 1405 | 9 | 7.8 |
Davante Adams | 2018 | 15 | 111 | 1386 | 13 | 7.4 |
Antonio Brown | 2017 | 14 | 101 | 1533 | 9 | 7.2 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 2018 | 16 | 115 | 1572 | 11 | 7.2 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 2020 | 16 | 115 | 1407 | 6 | 7.2 |
Keenan Allen | 2020 | 14 | 100 | 992 | 8 | 7.1 |
Adam Thielen | 2018 | 16 | 113 | 1373 | 9 | 7.1 |
Julio Jones | 2018 | 16 | 113 | 1677 | 8 | 7.1 |
Jarvis Landry | 2017 | 16 | 112 | 987 | 9 | 7.0 |
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 2018 | 16 | 111 | 1426 | 7 | 6.9 |
Antonio Brown | 2018 | 15 | 104 | 1297 | 15 | 6.9 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 2019 | 15 | 104 | 1165 | 7 | 6.9 |
Davante Adams | 2019 | 12 | 83 | 997 | 5 | 6.9 |
Stefon Diggs | 2018 | 15 | 102 | 1021 | 9 | 6.8 |
Julio Jones | 2019 | 15 | 99 | 1394 | 6 | 6.6 |
Keenan Allen | 2019 | 16 | 104 | 1199 | 6 | 6.5 |
Michael Thomas | 2017 | 16 | 104 | 1245 | 5 | 6.5 |
DeAndre Hopkins | 2017 | 15 | 96 | 1378 | 13 | 6.4 |
Allen Robinson | 2020 | 16 | 102 | 1250 | 6 | 6.4 |
Keenan Allen | 2017 | 16 | 102 | 1393 | 6 | 6.4 |
Julian Edelman | 2019 | 16 | 100 | 1117 | 6 | 6.3 |
Tyler Lockett | 2020 | 16 | 100 | 1054 | 10 | 6.3 |
Julian Edelman | 2018 | 12 | 74 | 850 | 6 | 6.2 |
Chris Godwin | 2019 | 14 | 86 | 1333 | 9 | 6.1 |
Cooper Kupp | 2020 | 15 | 92 | 974 | 3 | 6.1 |
Allen Robinson | 2019 | 16 | 98 | 1147 | 7 | 6.1 |
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 2020 | 16 | 97 | 831 | 9 | 6.1 |
Keenan Allen | 2018 | 16 | 97 | 1196 | 6 | 6.1 |
Robert Woods | 2019 | 15 | 90 | 1134 | 2 | 6.0 |
Cooper Kupp | 2019 | 16 | 94 | 1161 | 10 | 5.9 |
Tyreek Hill | 2020 | 15 | 87 | 1276 | 15 | 5.8 |
Sterling Shepard | 2019 | 10 | 57 | 576 | 3 | 5.7 |
Adam Thielen | 2017 | 16 | 91 | 1276 | 4 | 5.7 |
Robert Woods | 2020 | 16 | 90 | 936 | 6 | 5.6 |
Tyler Boyd | 2019 | 16 | 90 | 1046 | 5 | 5.6 |
Julio Jones | 2017 | 16 | 88 | 1444 | 3 | 5.5 |
Sterling Shepard | 2020 | 12 | 66 | 656 | 3 | 5.5 |
Tyreek Hill | 2018 | 16 | 87 | 1479 | 12 | 5.4 |
Tyler Boyd | 2018 | 14 | 76 | 1028 | 7 | 5.4 |
Chris Godwin | 2020 | 12 | 65 | 840 | 7 | 5.4 |
Mike Evans | 2018 | 16 | 86 | 1524 | 8 | 5.4 |
Robert Woods | 2018 | 16 | 86 | 1219 | 6 | 5.4 |
Sterling Shepard | 2017 | 11 | 59 | 731 | 2 | 5.4 |
Davante Adams | 2017 | 14 | 74 | 885 | 10 | 5.3 |
Tyler Boyd | 2020 | 15 | 79 | 841 | 4 | 5.3 |
Jarvis Landry | 2019 | 16 | 83 | 1174 | 6 | 5.2 |
Mike Evans | 2019 | 13 | 67 | 1157 | 8 | 5.2 |
Tyler Lockett | 2019 | 16 | 82 | 1057 | 8 | 5.1 |
Jarvis Landry | 2018 | 16 | 81 | 976 | 4 | 5.1 |
Nobody should be blowing the waiver budget on Shepard, with him being pretty long in the tooth. But the Bucs are a pass-first offense, and they've got to throw it to someone. I like Shepard as a usable PPR player this week, and going forward.
--Andy Richardson