Sterling Shepard Says Giants Offense Should Create 'Feast' for Him, Evan Engram

New York Giants receiver Sterling Shepard is envisioning a productive year for himself given the offseason additions the team made to the passing game, including wideout Brandon Marshall and rookie tight end Evan Engram.

The second-year player spoke to SiriusXM NFL Radio (h/t Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com) about his expectations for the 2017 campaign:

"I'm very excited [to be] a part of that good group of guys. Especially having Odell [Beckham Jr.] and Brandon on the outside now is going to help free up the inside for Evan and I. That's every wide receiver's dream, to have two great guys on the outside that are going to draw a lot of attention. That's what you're getting with those two. We should have a feast in the inside if we prepare good enough."

Shepard, 24, had a solid rookie season, catching 65 passes for 683 yards and eight touchdowns. He'll play primarily out of the slot in 2017, with Beckham and Marshall playing out wide. And with Engram, an athletic move tight end who is more of a threat in the passing game than as an inline blocker, is likely to see plenty of targets as well.

That gives the Giants a cadre of weapons for veteran quarterback Eli Manning, though as Bergman noted, Shepard may have to sacrifice some of his targets given the new additions:

"However, before this magic domino effect can take hold, we'll have to see if there are too many cooks, or rather personalities, in Hell's Kitchen. Someone's targets are bound to decrease, and it's likely the odd man out is Shepard. If that ends up being the case, will the second-year pro still be singing the same optimistic tune come midseason?"

For Shepard, one way to guarantee a consistent number of targets is to improve on two of his weaknesses from last season: dropped passes and yards after the catch. He acknowledged both, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News:

"I definitely think [I had] too many dropped balls. I came out of college and I had only dropped six balls my whole career, so that was something I felt I definitely needed to hone in on over the offseason. So I've been catching a lot of balls, and I also wanted to work on a lot of after-the-catch stuff. I feel like I could have gotten a lot more YAC yardage than what I did, just from the [film] review I did."

If Shepard makes those improvements and Engram hits the ground running, the Giants will be a matchup nightmare for defenses. The potential for the team's passing game is sky-high, in other words.