After an injury to Sterling Shepard on Wednesday, a player with four career receptions over the course of as many NFL seasons is now the fourth wide receiver on the Giants depth chart.
Tavarres King’s role with the Giants got potentially bigger after Shepard went down with an ankle injury on Wednesday morning. A former fifth round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2013, King has struggled to find playing time on the field as he has bounced around several NFL practice squads. The Giants signed King to their practice squad two years ago and he eventually made an impact last year, catching a touchdown pass in the Giants blowout loss at the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card.
Now with Shepard possibly shelved long-term, King’s role might increase.
“I mean, every day out here is an opportunity to get better. So, every day is an opportunity. Not just when a guy goes down, but every day that you’re out here on this field, on this grass,” King said on Wednesday. “You’ve got an opportunity to get better.”
He doesn’t look back and wonder what could have been if his career had started to click earlier and he didn’t spend so much time on different practice squads – King has been with five different teams over the course of his brief NFL career. Instead of looking down, he’s looking to build on the positives from last year to get momentum for this year.
King readily concedes that the extra snaps as he moves up the depth chart following Shepard’s injury should benefit him.
“You know, you can’t really look back. You’ve got to look forward. I’m happy, I’m happy the way things went. I’m happy that I got an opportunity in the end and that I did well with the opportunity,” King said. “But now, like I said, it’s all about getting better and building on that. I want to build on that to help this team any way that I can.”
