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Former $41 Million Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Signs With Jets
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- Former $41 Million Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Signs With Jets
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Sterling Shepard. Getty
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard is headed back to New York — just not with his old team.
"Back to Jersey for Sterling Shepard: The former Giants WR is signing with the Jets' practice squad, source says," NFL Network's Mike Garafolo wrote on his official X account on Tuesday. "After a stint with the Texans in camp, Shepard heads to Florham Park … with Omar Cooper Jr. injured, the Jets brought in a few receivers for a workout today, including JuJu Smith-Schuster . Shepard lands the gig."
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Cooper, 1 of 3 1st-round picks by the Jets in 2026, was injured in Sunday's season-opening win over the Tennessee Titans .
"The Jets are signing WR Sterling Shepard to their practice squad," SNY Jets wrote on its official X account. "Shepard, the former Giant, has 4,800 career receiving yards and spent the last two seasons with the Buccaneers."
"That's an interesting one: Sterling Shepard to the Jets practice squad with Omar Cooper expected to miss some time," The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt wrote on his official X account on Tuesday.
"Sterling Shepard had 71 catches and 700+ combined over the last two years in Tampa ," The Jet Press wrote on X . "Capable veteran slot WR who can fill in and play a few depth snaps with Cooper and Patrick out. I imagine he'll be elevated rather quickly, possibly as soon as Week 2. Should be WR4 over Smith."
Sterling Shepard Spent Almost Decade With Giants
Shepard, 33, was a 2nd-round pick (No. 40 overall) by the Giants in the 2016 NFL Draft and played the 1st 8 seasons of his career with the Giants before playing the last 2 seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers .
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Most notably, the Giants signed Shepard to a 4-year, $41 million contract extension before the 2019 season.
In 8 seasons with the Giants, Shepard had 372 receptions for 4,095 yards and 23 touchdowns in 90 regular-season games.
Bucs Made Classy Move With Shepard's Contract
Despite coming up short on several bonus clauses in his contract, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers still paid Shepard an extra $500,000 in incentives for the 2025 season — mainly as a "Thank You" for being such an incredible team player this season.
"Cool move by the Bucs — receiver Sterling Shepard was inactive the last four games as other WRs got healthy, and finished one catch and 29 yards short of $125,000 incentives as a result," Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote in a series of posts on X. "Team paid out both, and an additional $250k for $500k as a separate bonus … Shepard finished with 39 catches for 371 yards, and had incentives paying $125k each for reaching 40 and 50 catches, and 400 and 500 receiving yards. They paid out all four as a new $500k bonus as a gesture for his hard work when other WRs were injured."
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