Will the Tampa Bay Buccaneers re-sign Sterling Shepard with an already talented young receiving room?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been blessed with receivers over the past decade.
Tampa’s two leading wideouts ever -- Mike Evans and Chris Godwin -- both joined the franchise in the 2010s.
While Evans and Godwin were making names for themselves in Tampa, Sterling Shepard was playing with the New York Giants.
The second-round pick of the 2016 draft (40th overall) stayed with his first team for twice the length of his rookie contract.
By the end of 2023, the Giants and Shepard were ready to move on from each other, and Shepard made his way to Tampa Bay.
Bucs Roundtable will take a look at where each of the Buccaneers' 2025 free agents stands going into this year's cycle.
Our series has featured offensive lineman Charlie Heck, linebackers Haason Reddick and Anthony Walker Jr., along with cornerback Kindle Vildor and punter Riley Dixon.
The series will also include players brought aboard before 2025, who the team re-signed, such as nose tackle Greg Gaines.
Shepard in Tampa
Shepard signed a one-year deal with the Bucs ahead of the 2024 season. The Bucs cut him toward the end of August, but kept him around as part of the practice squad. He ended up playing 14 games for the Bucs, catching 32 passes for 334 yards and a touchdown. The Bucs liked Shepard enough to bring him back for the 2025 season on another one-year deal.
This past season, Shepard played in 13 games, being a healthy scratch for the last four. Despite playing in fewer games, Shepard exceeded his 2024 numbers, catching 34 passes for 349 yards and a touchdown. Shepard was part of a deep receivers room. In addition to Evans and Godwin, Tampa had a trio of young wideouts in Rookie of the Year finalist Emeka Egbuka, fellow rookie Tez Johnson and second-year WR Jalen McMillan.
Now, Shepard is a free agent again, and the question is what the Bucs will decide to do with him.
Per Spotrac, Shepard’s market value is $3.3 million for one year.
Career Retrospective
Shepard’s time in the league will most likely be remembered for what he did with the Giants. His first three seasons were his best. As a rookie in 2016, he caught 65 passes for 683 yards and a career-best eight touchdowns, making the PFWA’s second-team all-rookie squad. Injuries limited Shepard to just 11 games in 2017, but he surpassed his 2016 total with 731 receiving yards. He topped that in 2018, with 872 yards that still rank as his career best.
In the seven seasons since, Shepard has only played in 13 or more games three times, and therefore hasn’t matched his 2016-2018 numbers.
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