New York Giants free agency, roster news 2016: Five-season veteran Kelvin Sheppard leaving Dolphins after two seasons
The New York Giants, like any other team in the National Football League (NFL) this off-season, are making roster improvements and one of them is signing linebacker Kelvin Sheppard to a deal.
In a tweet Sunday, Sheppard announced that he is heading to the Big Apple. However, no information about the contract was released by the Giants.
According to ESPN, Sheppard becomes the second player from the Dolphins that left and joined the Giants this off-season, after defensive end Olivier Vernon inked a five-year, $85 million pact earlier last month.
Sheppard entered the league as the third-round pick (68th overall) of the Buffalo Bills in the 2011 NFL Draft. The 28-year-old spent his first two seasons with the Bills before getting traded to the Indianapolis Colts in April of 2013. Despite not starting in the regular season during his lone year with the Colts, he started in all two of the team's playoff games during that campaign.
Unfortunately, that was not enough to make Sheppard stay in Indianapolis, and in September of 2014, he signed with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent. In his first year in Miami, the starting job was not again trusted to him. But last season, he played in 16 games and had 13 starts, which may have inspired his performance as he tallied career-bests 105 tackles, two pass deflections, and 14 stuffs.
What the Giants are getting in Sheppard is another seasoned defensive player who already has playoff experience in only five seasons in the NFL.
That is what the Giants want in the 2016 season, to make it to the playoffs again after missing it for the fourth consecutive time in the 2015 season.
The last time the Giants saw action in the playoffs was in Super Bowl XLVI, when they won it all after a competitive battle against the New England Patriots.