Jeremy Shockey does rare interview and opens up on controversial end to Giants career

Jeremy Shockey is still stung by his Giants ending.The former star NFL tight end opened up on the controversy that swirled around him before he was traded to the Saints in 2008 — including a famous disappearing act after the franchise’s Super Bowl XLII win earlier that year.Shockey famously missed playing in the game due to a broken left leg, and then skipped the celebrations, insisting it wasn’t the sour grapes it was painted to be.“I’ve worked my whole life to be at this level, to play at this game,” Shockey explained on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay” podcast.“To not be able to play in it, of course, it hurt.

But I wasn’t jealous.I as a competitor, I just wanted to be able to play in it.”The notion he was jealous of his teammates getting the attention from the 17-14 win over the Patriots was just a misconception.“That’s bulls–t, that’s all bull-s–t, trust me,” Shockey said, adding that while he had to watch the final game from the stand, he knew he’d contributed throughout the season, and the five before that when he helped build the Giants foundation.The idea of Shockey’s jealousy only ramped up, however, when he infamously missed the ring ceremony, the parade, and stayed in the facility during the following minicamp.He claims that was a Giants staff decision made for health reasons, as he dealt with a staph infection.“If I couldn’t get the staff infection cleared up, they’re not going to let me be around these players,” he said.

“Someone else might get it or something”Regardless of the truth behind it, Shockey thought his perceived jealousy “was going to be a distraction for the next year so bad” that he requested a trade to avoid ruining a great team.“I’d rather start over, with a blank canvas and move on,” he said.Shockey ended up going to the Saints in exchange for a second-round and a fifth-round draft pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, ending a six-year tenure in New York after the Giants took him ...