Jeremy Shockey Claims He’s Taking a Physical With an Unnamed Team

Former New Orleans Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey went on ESPN’s NFL Live Wednesday and claimed he will be taking a physical Thursday for a team he did not want to name.

It certainly would not be surprising to learn that Shockey has garnered interest around the league from teams in need of help at tight end, but this is a bit quick. I wouldn’t put it past Shockey to be completely bluffing about this in an attempt to get another offer from the Saints.

The Saints, however, would only have Shockey back as a backup to Jimmy Graham, according to Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune.

Duncan claims that the move to release Shockey was more a confirmation of what the team thinks of Graham rather than an indictment of Shockey, but that doesn’t exactly fly considering Shockey had the worst season of his career.

Shockey missed three games with injury, but only caught 41 passes for 408 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games. Those are the numbers of a backup tight end, and not a viable starting option.

The Miami Dolphins have been brought up as a possible landing spot for Shockey, but it would almost certainly be as a backup to Anthony Fasano. The Dolphins didn’t get a ton out of Fasano last season (39 receptions, 528 yards and four touchdowns), but Fasano is only going to be 27 compared to Shockey who will be 31, and a lot of Fasano’s struggles on the stat-sheet could come from Chad Henne’s deficiencies as a quarterback.

If what Shockey is claiming is true, there will be more news tomorrow after he takes this mystery physical. But at best, I would expect to hear he signed on somewhere as a backup on a one-year, incentive-laden contract.