Fantasy Football 2016 Rookie Mock Draft: Round 1
1.05: Sterling Shepard, WR, New York Giants
Drafter Comments
"Torn patellar tendons are becoming an almost career-ending injury for NFL players with few success stories. The Giants can't rely on Victor Cruz to return to form and have found his replacement in Oklahoma's Sterling Shepard. Shepard enters an offense that provides him potentially both short- and long-term success, with him capable of seeing 100-plus targets as a slot-receiving specialist. After all, Rueben Randle just left 90 targets behind when he went to Philadelphia." -- Tyler Buecher
Other Comments
"This pick really depends on the availability of Victor Cruz. If he's healthy and can play at the levels we see him in, then Shepard's fantasy relevance is minimized. If Cruz either can't play or isn't playing at the levels we have seen him play before, then the sky is the limit for Shepard, even though he won't see WR1 targets because of Odell Beckham. Shepard was super fun to watch at Oklahoma, and he should translate well over into the NFL." -- Zach
"I love this pick. Odell will command a huge number of targets, but Shepard will almost always see single coverage and he's an elite route runner that could see about 100 targets his rookie season after the departure of Rueben Randle and the lack of proven talent to compete on the depth chart." -- Joseph
