Brian Daboll reveals Sterling Shepard suffered season-ending injury

The New York Giants will be without wide receiver Sterling Shepard for the rest of the season, according to head coach Brian Daboll. Daboll shared that Shepard tore his ACL on Monday night in the Giants’ game versus the Dallas Cowboys.

The former Oklahoma Sooners star went down in a non-contact situation in the final minutes of the 23-16 loss. Cowboys defensive back Trevon Diggs put the game to rest with an interception but in the background, Shepard went down on the field, eventually limping onto a cart.

“It’s tough. It’s a tough sport,” Daboll said after the game. “Guys work their butts off to get back from injuries. This is something if he’s out for the whole season, which we’ll probably know [Tuesday] morning … you hurt for those guys because you watch them in the rehab room, you watch them in the offseason. It’s just a shame.”

After the game, Giants players expressed their sympathies for their veteran teammate.

“It’s hard,” Saquon Barkley said in his post-game press conference. “I would say I’m one of the biggest competitors, but when I saw Shep was down, I was like, ‘What the heck is happening?’ Obviously, I realized it was a pick, but in that moment, you see him on the ground, I didn’t even want to walk over there. I dropped, said a quick prayer and … it’s tough. He’s been through a lot of injuries recently, it’s tough to come back and battle the way he has, from an Achilles, and to go down on a play like that, it’s a tough way to end an emotional game.”

Shepard suffers another season-ending injury

In the first three weeks of the season, Shepard pulled in 13 catches for 154 yards and one score.

Shepard was selected in the second round (40th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma and has stayed with the Giants ever since. In his first six seasons in the league, he’s caught 349 passes for 3,884 yards and 21 touchdowns and has been a staple of the New York offense during the late Eli Manning-Daniel Jones era.

Last December, Shepard tore his Achilles, effectively ending his season after seven games. Before his injury, the Oklahoma product secured 36 receptions for 366 yards and one score.