POSTED 10:59 a.m. EST, January 30, 2008
TIME TO SHED SHOCKEY?
Lost amid the hype and the preparations for Super Bowl XLII is Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey. And his apparent lack of interest in what his team is trying to accomplish might be reason enough for the Giants to sever ties with him.
Shockey broke a leg late in the regular season. As we recently heard, Shockey is pissed that the team has done so well without him. Some league observers believe that the sudden maturity of quarterback Eli Manning has resulted at least in part from the absence of the loud-mouthed tight end.
According to the Denver Post, the Giants have invited Shockey to attend the Super Bowl. But Shockey has yet to decide whether to accept the invitation.
Let's repeat that one. Jeremy Shockey, a member of the New York Giants football club, has not yet decided whether he'll attend the Super Bowl as a member of the team.
Of course, Shockey is slated to attend Terrell Owens' Super Bowl party on Thursday night as a "confirmed guest," along with the likes of Tony Romo and Chad Johnson and JaMarcus Russell.
If Shockey attends the T.O. party but isn't with his team for the Super Bowl, then the Giants should trade him or cut him. Sure, he's under contract through 2011. Yeah, there would be cap consequences. But we can envision no greater act of selfishness or betrayal than for a supposed member of a team to fail to provide support and respect as the organization tries to pull off one of the all-time great underdog stories in league history.
It truly would be a case of addition by subtraction. Heck, it already has been.