NY Giants WR Sterling Shepard took another step closer to returning, but will he be healthy enough in time to play vs. Eagles on Thursday night?
The NY Giants designated Sterling Shepard to return from injured reserve Tuesday, as the wide receiver took part in the team’s walkthrough ahead of Thursday night’s NFC East clash with the Philadelphia Eagles, but his status for this week’s game remains in doubt.
“Yeah, I think we’re a little bit closer than we were last week,” Giants head coach Joe Judge said Monday of Shepard’s progress. “We’ll have to go really based on what the trainers tell us. We’ll have to go ahead and look at him. We’ll see. This could go up to a pregame workout.”
Shepard has not played since suffering turf toe back in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears, and has only worked on the side with trainers during practice the past four weeks.
Monday, the Giants officially placed linebacker Lorenzo Carter on injured reserve. Carter ruptured his Achilles tendon in a Week 5 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Giants have 21 days from Tuesday to decide whether to activate Shepard or revert him to the season-ending injured reserve, which seems unlikely at this point. Depending on how Shepard comes out of the walkthrough, and pre-game on Thursday night, the Giants could elect to hold him out until next week. After Thursday, the Giants do not have a game until Monday Nov. 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.