It’s NFL draft time again and for those of us who live for the draft there are few weekends better than this!  So OK, Super Bowl Weekend is better, especially if your team is in the game and wins it, you definitely have got me there!  Casual fans just don’t get the whole pre draft hype and trying to figure out what your team needs VS. who’s on the board when you get there conundrum.  I’ve been assessing all the various positions and accumulating facts and reading and viewing mock drafts for months now.  I feel like I am going to have a Scanners moments and my head will explode in a Zapruder film like display.

     The big question since Big Blue’s GM, Jerry Reese opened up the can of worms by saying they had in deed entertained some offers for #80, is just what to about this.  It isn’t an  easy question to answer.  You start by assessing Jeremy Shockey’s athletecism and at that point you realize that nothing has changed in that department.  He’s a rare talent who ALWAYS makes an opposing defense take him into consideration and game plane for the mismatches he creates.  Do you try to get away with a linebacker and get burned by Shockey’s speed?  Do you luse a corner or extra D Back and watch him get out muscled?

     There are other considerations as well.  How many players come along that capture a crowd and pump them up the way Jeremy Shockey does?  He CAN change the nature of a game and CAN make the play that breaks the game open.  We’ve all seen him do it, right?  So it’s a no brainer that we keep him…right? 

     Well, hold on there because there are problems on the way to Canton.  Shockey’s best year statistically speaking was his rookie year when he wasn’t’ asked to handle too much in the way of blocking.  In Sean Payton’s world as the Offensive Coordinator, he mostly was asked to put his mismatch abilities to good use and that he did!  Yes there were a few times when his dogged persistence to stay on his feet and drag guys had me saying the holy of holies…………BAVARO!  BUT…..come on, this is football, there’s ALWAYS a big BUTT!  There is this thing called blocking that tight ends have to do especially in the land of The Giants! 

     To his ever lasting credit, Shockey has made himself into more than a fair NFL blocking tight end.  But in his world, Shockey doesn’t rhyme with Blockey!  With time ticking on his career and the injuries mounting (more on this aspect a few yards ahead) I suspect that Jeremy would like to finish out his career in a place where he can use his best talents to his best ability and that is a team that is going to let him split out wide most of the time and “do his thing” without the encumbrance of blocking duties.  You know, how you felt about having to take out the garbage when you were a kid.  Catch ball, bulldoze a few guys, get up and Lou Ferrigno, get the crowd going and get back and suggest to the QB that he’s ready for more!

     So now we’re at the crux of it and there is really no way to know the big truth of this.  Shockey’s act cuts both ways.  ADMIT IT!  There’s times you want to get so pumped you could band your head on the coffee table in your living room, watch is shatter into a million little pieces and serve them to your buddies your so psyched up!  Then again, when he’s throwing ice at the opposing team’s fans (Niners playoff game) you want to hide under that same table!

     AND NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT INJURY THING!  The guy always has something, right?  I mean it’s like watching SAW or some such flick where you just cringe and want to look away!  He is ALWAYS playing with something!  And yet, you can’t get him out of the game which, to be fair, is pretty cool.  Frustrating and complicated, right? 

     I suspect that the whole “The Giants are better without his diva routine and on field histrionics when Eli doesn’t throw to him”  conspiracy theories didn’t play to well with Jeremy during the playoff run and can you blame him?  He has a ton of pride in his game and deservedly so.  His team mates you have cared enough to comment in the past several weeks all seem to want him to come back and that included your Super Bowl Champion QB, Eli Manning.  What’s the truth of this?  How much of this is just public preening and fear of saying what you really feel in case he DOES stay?  No way to know and that’s the problem with all of this stuff.  So much of the lead up to the NFL draft is a smokescreen to screw with the heads of other teams.  Who knows?  Maybe all of this is to get Shockey to pipe down a bit and quit being such an apparent pain in the ass! 

     One thing that has always bugged me is how he stays down in Miami and doesn’t come up to do the off season training with the team and most importantly with Eli Manning!  Maybe The Giants realize that with all the blocking their offensive scheming utilizes they have a Porsche and they only need some tough minded pick up trucks.  Is Boss that guy?  Too little game time to tell right now but you have to admit he’s off to a good start.  The jury is out on what Matthews can be but he has raw talent.  He dropped some very catchable balls last year.  Then again, let’s face it:  Shockey has been known to leave some on the turf too!  It isn’t always automatic with him tucking it away safely either. 

     I think it’s a classic 50 / 50.  I think that if Shockey’s old coach Sean Payton in New Orleans has the opportunity and offers Jerry Reese and the Giants brain trust enough on the first day of the draft it just might happen.  Shockey’s roll is not going to change and I believe he’s not enjoying what he has to do here.  I think that General Manager Jerry Reese is adept at going out and finding the veteran he needs and maybe he’s thinking that he’ll keep Boss out there and let Darcy Johnson, who showed a ton of promise in training camp before getting injured, fight it out with Matthews for the second spot.  He’ll find some veteran guy who gets let go for cap space during camp to have a steadying influence around to teach the young guys. 

     To Shockey or not to Shockey?  At the right price, you can put that #80 right next to all of those old Seahorn jerseys in your closet.  I’ll miss the excitement when he makes one of those catches and gets the crowd going that’s for sure!