Suffering from Shockey hangover? CSC has got your cure. More Shockey!
I have put together everything I could find about the man. There were some I simply left out because of redundancy. You should all be Shockey experts by the end of this.
I will start off with the New Orleans Saints official website coverage of the story. Here are quotes from Loomis, Payton and the man himself.
"He’s an impact player, and has been a key part of every offense he has played for – both as a blocker and as a receiver," said Loomis. "This is a move we have been working on closely with the Giants, and we’re really pleased to add Jeremy to our roster."
"Jeremy is a player that we are excited to have on our roster. He is someone I am familiar with as a player," said Saints Head Coach Sean Payton. "He brings a skill set to the position that I feel will be a tremendous benefit to our offense."
"I am excited to join the Saints as they have expressed interest in me. I have had a relationship with Coach Payton and I appreciate what he has done as a head coach," said Shockey. "The Saints have a lot of weapons starting with Drew Brees and I look forward to joining my teammates at training camp. This will be a fun year."
ESPN's coverage of the whole trade also has some worthwhile quotes from the Giants side.
"Jeremy brought great energy to the game every time he stepped on the field," Giants team president John Mara said. "He had a close relationship with my father from the time we drafted him, and I had a couple of long conversations with Jeremy this spring and summer. From those conversations, it was apparent to me that a fresh start was the best thing for us and for Jeremy."
"He's been one of the most successful tight ends in NFL history, but now I think he's going to be more prolific in the Saints' offense," Rosenhaus said. "I don't think Jeremy could ask for a better situation."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin called the departing tight end "an outstanding football player who plays the game full-speed and plays the game the way it was meant to be played."
"I wish him the best," the coach added.
"We have five young kids who are all vying for the position," Coughlin said. "The tight end position will be a very competitive position in training camp."
More quotes from the Giants side of things, this time via an article from the Times-Pic.
"Jeremy Shockey was a great competitor and contributor during his years with the Giants," New York General Manager Jerry Reese said in a statement released by the Giants. "We wish him well in New Orleans."
"Jeremy is a very talented football player who always played with great enthusiasm and great effort," Giants Coach Tom Coughlin said. "He was excited about playing. Jeremy always enjoyed being a physical football player and a tough football player.
"He's an outstanding football player who plays the game full speed and plays the game the way it was meant to be played. He is a physical blocker who is a gifted athlete with the ball in his hands after receiving the ball down the field. I wish him the best."
The consensus among the "experts" is that the addition of Shockey is definitely an improvement for this already potent offense. Sports Illustrated tells us what they think Shockey will bring to this offense.
What this does for the Saints offense is force teams to respect their inside passing game. Along with Mark Campbell as the blocking tight end, the Saints have the ability to run the ball against nickel coverage. Tight ends who can run routes and block are a very challenging matchup for most defenses. And the way the Saints can throw the ball with Drew Brees at the helm, Shockey's pass receiving skill set will blend in very well. He can win on man-to-man coverage and he can be a matchup problem for smaller defensive backs who attempt to cover him.
Tight ends are like knights in chess: They are versatile, they can strike from far away, and if used and deployed correctly they can make the other pieces fit well around them. Wideout Marques Colston, for one, will greatly benefit from having Shockey around. He'll see less rolled coverages and will have the freedom to beat some one-on-one matchups on the outside.
ESPN expresses nearly the exact same sentiment in this article.
With Shockey, they've tied everything together. New Orleans needed someone to take some of the attention away from Colston. Defenses won't be able to roll the Cover Two on him all day because Shockey will take coverage away and cause matchup problems for safeties and linebackers.
He's a natural fit in the New Orleans offense because he can make things happen over the middle and down the field. That will open things up for Colston along the sidelines and it should help whoever is playing the No. 2 receiver spot (Robert Meachem and David Patten are among the candidates). Shockey also is going to make Brees much more effective because he gives him a tight end who is as dangerous as most wide receivers.
Shockey isn't noted for his blocking, but his presence still will help the running game. Defenses are going to have to account for Shockey with linebackers and safeties and that's going to open things up for Bush and McAllister. Opposing defenses won't be able to use eight men in the box and they won't be able to devote all their coverage to Colston.
Here is ESPN's coverage of the trade.
And don't forget this one.
There are a couple of questions regarding the Shockey trade and whether or not a new contract will be hammered out or whether the Saints will just inherit his current contract. Pro Football talk claims to have the answers.
As we hear it, the Saints won’t be giving Shockey a new contract. As we also hear it, Shockey’s desire to get out of New York arose primarily from his desire to get a new deal.
Shockey is signed through 2011. He’s due to earn a base salary of $1.925 million in 2008. The pay jumps to $3.025 million in 2009, $3.825 million in 2010, and $4.508 million in 2011.
I guess in an ideal world we could sign him to a new short term contract and make him work for his money, but I guess that might not happen.
It wouldn't be a Saints News segment without a little Archie. Fortunately for us, he has weighed in on the whole Shockey trade. The Clarion Ledger has the article.
"To my knowledge, Eli's never had a problem with Jeremy," Archie Manning said Monday afternoon shortly after the trade was announced. "Jeremy is a guy who practices hard and plays hard. That's what you want from a teammate.
"Jeremy plays with such emotion and so recklessly, he has a hard time staying healthy," Archie Manning continued. "But when he's healthy, he's one of the top four or five tight ends in football."
Please, you know Eli is relieved!
I actually found someone who is not happy with the trade for Shockey. Peter Finney has a few objections about the newest Saints TE.
My feeling is the Saints would have been better off holding on to the second-round and fifth-round draft picks they sent to the Giants simply in the event some trade possibilities surfaced during training camp.
My question is: How much more effective will Shockey make Payton's offense?
How much better would it be than the one that last season ranked fourth in the league, as Brees threw for more than 4,400 yards and 28 touchdowns?
My feeling is the Saints, even though they'll be bringing in five defensive free agents and used their first three draft picks for defense, cannot get enough help across the board, up front, at linebacker, in the secondary.
One more thing.
The schedule makers did the Saints no favors this season.
They play their strongest home opponent, the San Diego Chargers, on Oct. 26 in London instead of the Superdome, a stretch in which they'll be away from home for five consecutive Sundays.
This for a team, in the middle of the season, in desperate search of a defense.
Geez. Tough crowd.
The article also had a quote from Michael Strahan.
"Jeremy is a special talent. Sometimes, as a tight end, it's required for you to block. He's so competitive, he wants the ball every time. I can't fault him for that."
Then he added: "Jeremy was a great teammate. There's not a guy in the locker room who'd say, 'he's a jerk, I don't like him.' If you want to learn how to work hard, how to be intense, to believe you're the best and demand the best out of yourself, you just watch Jeremy Shockey."
Yahoo! blog Shutdown Corner has the winners and losers in yesterday's big trade for Shockey. Shockey, Colston and Brees are the obvious winners, but here is my favorite loser.
3. Shockey's Tattoo. The big bald eagle/American flag tattoo matched so well with the Giants color scheme. Now it will clash.
This one might worry you. It's a quote given by Plaxico Burress in his book "Giant". I found the quote here.
"Anybody who would tell you that they wouldn’t want to party with Jeremy Shockey, they’re lying, they’re not telling the truth. If they like to go out and party and hang out, they would love to go party and hang out with this guy."
He's gonna have fun in this town!
This one is interesting. FootballGuys.com has some stats for us to consider. Here is what Jeremy Shockey has accounted for on the Giants in the last three years.
- 20.2% of the team’s receptions (188)
- 20.6% of the team’s receiving yards (2,133)
- 23.9% of the team’s receiving TDs (17)
Dude is productive. I am not sure if these stats were supposed to make Saints fans feel good, or Giant fans feel bad.
This is an interesting one from Bodog. For all you gamblers out there, feel free to put your money where your Shockey is. Toward the bottom of this page, you can place your bets on how many catches Shockey will have, how many yards he will have and even whether he will have more or less receiving yards than former teammate TE Kevin Boss. Man, you really can bet on everything. Even whether or not the NFL will find the Vikings guilty of tampering in regards to Brett Favre. Geez!
Here is one NOT Shockey related. Bleacher Report wants to know whether Reggie Bush is overrated.
How do you jump on a players' bandwagon who is not even close to the top?
Ouch. I see his point though. Let's give him one more year.
In case you were missing the abundance of training camp previews amid all of the Shockey news, I've got one from NFL.com for you. It's pretty much all of the usual questions, except here is a new one.
How will Jeremy Shockey fit in?
New Orleans agreed to a trade with the Giants for four-time Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey. That deal changes the dynamic of a Saints offense that has become one of the league's best in the past two seasons. How the team's established offensive stars are able to deal with Shockey's combustible personality will go a long way in determining how successful the trade turns out. QB Drew Brees, RB Reggie Bush, RB Deuce McAllister and WR Marques Colston are all media savvy and rarely engage in public controversy. Shockey, on the other hand, is an outspoken lightning rod who is known to stir up commotion. If Shockey is able to mesh with his new teammates in training camp, his presence makes the Saints even more explosive.
My fingers are crossed.
NewOrleansSaints365.com did not have any breaking information on the Shockey trade.