TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened their three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday with a new face in the wide receivers room.
Shepard said Tuesday that if it wasn’t for Mayfield, he likely would not be in Tampa Bay.
“Oh yeah, I was in straight daddy mode,” Shepard said. “I was taking my kids to school every morning, which was great.”
That’s when Mayfield reached out and asked Shepard how he was feeling.
“Sure enough, my agent called them,” Shepard said. “About five minutes later, ‘Can you fly in tomorrow for a workout?’ I was like, ‘Uh, I haven’t been running any routes, but yeah, I’ll go out there.’ I got out there, and when I strapped on the cleats, it all turned on for me.”
Shepard’s recent injury history has been tough. He tore his Achilles in 2021 and tore his ACL in 2022.
“Sterling is learning a whole new system,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “Today is his first day, and he’s kind of hitting it on the run while all these other guys have been here for a couple of weeks. We’ll see in training camp. (Mayfield and Shepard) have natural chemistry, I’m sure, but game plan chemistry and new system chemistry is a little different than that.”
The Bucs lack experience at the position after wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Shepard can fill that role.
“I’m a guy you can bounce around and help Mike and Chris out,” Shepard said. “Chris can move anywhere, too. So, just kind of mixing things up and giving defenses, hopefully, a headache.”
