To No One's Surprise, Giants Draft Jeremy Shockey

April 20, 2002

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – After seeing Miami tight end Jeremy Shockey stay on the board through the first 13 picks of the NFL draft, the New York Giants weren’t going to gamble on losing the player they wanted all along.

Jeremy Shockey chats on the phone with New York Giants officials as he holds his mother Lucinda following his selection by the Giants as their first pick, 14th overall, in the NFL Draft Saturday April 20, 2002 in Dallas, Texas. Shockey’s brother James, stands in the back right.

So when Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher called Saturday and told Ernie Accorsi that there were a couple of teams asking about the Titans’ pick at No. 14, the Giants general manager asked what Fisher wanted.

Within minutes, the Giants sent their pick, the 15th overall, and a fourth-round choice to Tennessee and drafted Shockey.

“It was a poker game,” Accorsi said of the swap. “You know it could be a bluff there. My feeling was that was the player we wanted. I am not going to worry about a fourth-round draft choice or how it comes out on the scoreboard, or we gave too much. We wanted Jeremy Shockey.”

Everybody in the league knew that heading into the draft.

The Giants (7-9) haven’t had a real good pass-catching tight end since Mark Bavaro helped New York win Super Bowls after the 1986 and ’90 seasons.

Last year, Giants tight ends combined for 17 catches.

The deal with Tennessee wasn’t the first one the Giants discussed Saturday. They spoke with at least two other teams earlier in the draft about moving up, but the price of the Giants’ pick and either a second-round or third-round selection was too much.

Accorsi said the Giants felt they were in good position in the draft until New Orleans chose Tennessee receiver Donte Stallworth with the 13th pick.

The Giants would have settled for Stallworth had Shockey, who they rated very high on their draft board, been taken early.

“He was always our first choice,” Accorsi said. “I didn’t think he would last that long. With the stakes this high, you can’t afford to settle for something you don’t feel that strong about. When you have the chance to get him, you go get him.”

Shockey has all the tools. He is 6-foot-5, weighs 252 pounds, has great hands and ran as fast as a receiver when the Giants timed him on a wet grass field.

His statistics in two years at Miami were very impressive. He caught 61 passes for 815 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Marv Sunderland, the Giants’ director of player personnel, refused to compare Shockey with any of the league’s great tight ends.

“If you have to say something, he has it,” Sunderland said. “He has all the intangibles to be as good a player as there is at that position.”

Shockey got the news at a hotel near the airport in Dallas while sitting with 30 friends and relatives. There was an immediate cheer.

“I know in my first year I want to dominate,” Shockey said. “I want to make a lot of plays and do what I can to stretch the defense and get the receivers open on the outside. I have a great quarterback and hopefully, he’ll believe in me as much as the one in college did.”

Giants coach Jim Fassel said Shockey has a big upside, noting he has only been a tight end for a couple of years. Shockey was a high school quarterback.

The only thing Fassel has to do now is come up with some plays for the tight end, something he hasn’t had to do for years.

By TOM CANAVAN
AP Sports Writer