Giants mini-camp in for a Shock-ing surprise

June 5, 2008   ·   Paul Raymond   ·   Jump to comments

The New York Giants have a mandatory mini-camp next week and the question all off-season has been will Jeremy Shockey still be with the team? And if he is will he show up for mini-camp? Supposedly, he’s unhappy and wants to be traded. Supposedly, the Giants front office is still shopping the tight end. Supposedly, his teammates have been calling him, letting him know he truly is wanted on the team. It’s all enough to make your head spin. So will he be at camp next week? According to Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News, he will.

Vacchiano reports that a team source has told him that the team fully expects him to attend the mini-camp and even participate. Shockey has been rehabbing from a broken leg that he suffered in Week 14 against the Miami Dolphins. He has not been doing this with the team, but back in Miami, even so the team has been notified that this rehab has been going well.

Shockey is expected to be in New York this weekend for a promotional appearance for Powerade. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus won’t respond to any calls or emails to confirm his clients intentions, so there are questions still on if he’ll even show up for that. Radio commercials in the New York area thou advertise that Shockey will be in attendance. If he does show, it will be his first public appearance since sitting in a luxury box at the Super Bowl.

Shockey hasn’t openly come out threatening to skip mini-camps and training camp, yet. Instead, it’s been friends of his who have said he’s unhappy with his role and wants out. So really, this could of all been a whole bunch of nothing, just trying to position himself to get more action in this offense, or be sent to one that will use him more. This mini-camp is a big statement for him, if he shows up and participates without complaining then we know he WANTS to be a NEW YORK GIANT!

Hopefully, Shockey decides to stay in New York after this promotional appearance. No matter how good the team looked in the stretch run, they do need Shockey in the lineup for them to succeed. The Giants have one of their deepest offensive units in many years, but yet they still need Shockey holding down the starting tight end position. Kevin Boss is not ready yet for that role, and even admits that himself. Having these two as a part of the offense, makes this offense even more dynamic. They’ve got 3 solid wide receivers, a few good running backs, 2 or 3 back-up wide receivers who could become solid and mixing in 2 good tight ends to stretch the middle of the field will make this a tough unit to stop. If Manning’s development continues, this team could be a major threat in the NFC.

Here’s the NY Daily News article by Vacchiano. Once again, I hope he shows up cause he’s someone the team definitely needs on their side.

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