Sterling Shepard reveals Baker Mayfield text helped create Oklahoma reunion in Tampa

The reigning NFC South champions entered the offseason with plenty of work ahead of them. General manager Jason Licht did a great job retaining quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Mike Evans, and linebacker Lavonte David. Licht gave All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. the franchise tag, and later rewarded him with a new four-year, $84.1 million deal.

The Bucs weren’t overly active when it came to adding veterans—although safety Jordan Whitehead is back with the team after two seasons with the Jets. However, the club recently added another wideout that Mayfield is extremely familiar with.

Baker Mayfield and Sterling Shepard reunited in Tampa

“I got a text from my boy,” said former Giants’ receiver, now new Buccaneers’ target Sterling Shepard (via the New York Post), “and I just thought it was ‘regular old checking in to see how I was doing’ type of text, because we do that from time to time to each other.”

Shepard inked a one-year deal to join the Buccaneers. The duo has a relationship that dates back to college. Mayfield spent 2013 at Texas Tech, then transferred to the University of Oklahoma. His first season with the Sooner was in ’15, which happened to be Shepard’s final year at the school.

That season, Mayfield completed 68.1 percent of his passes for 3,700 yards, 36 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. Almost one-third of Mayfield’s aerial scores (team-high 11 TD receptions) went to Shepard, who also led Bob Stoops’ club with 86 catches and 1,288 receiving yards.

A second-round pick of the New York Giants in 2016, Shepard played eight seasons with Big Blue and was a 16-game starter as a rookie. He finished his career with the club with 372 catches, good for 4,095 yards and 23 scores. Eight of those touchdowns came during his rookie year.

Now he’s a member of the Buccaneers, who have reached the playoffs each of the past four seasons and may be primed for another big year.