The New York Giants and Giants fans held their collective breaths after finding out that second year wide receiver Sterling Shepard was carted off the field during practice Wednesday morning.

Jordan Raanan of ESPN reported that Shepard was down on the sidelines after running a short route, tears in his eyes while trainers looked at his right leg. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network later reported that they were looking at Shepard’s right ankle. Once Shepard was taken out on the cart, Giants fans were expecting the worst.

However, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported that the Giants believed that Shepard only suffered a “basketball type” roll of the ankle. Around 2:00 Wednesday afternoon, Kimberly Jones of NFL Network reported that after initial medical tests,Shepard was diagnosed with a low-ankle sprain. As of this writing, the Giants and medical staff are still waiting for the swelling to subside on Shepard’s ankle before making a final verdict.

Regardless, the Giants and Shepard dodged the proverbial bullet, as from first reports, it looked as though Shepard would miss significant time due to the injury. If the final verdict is ruled to be a low-ankle sprain, the recovery time for an NFL player is approximately one-to-three weeks.

The Giants have a lot of high hopes entering the 2017 season, with the receiving corps of Shepard, Odell Beckham Jr, and Brandon Marshall are expected to wreak havoc on opposing defenses.

However, it is a good bet that head coach Ben McAdoo and the rest of the Giants coaching staff will take it easy with Shepard and not rush him back onto the field this preseason. In Shepard’s absence, expect there to be an uptick in targets for rookie tight end Evan Engram, as well as to fellow receivers Roger Lewis, Tavarres King, Dwayne Harris, and Darius Powe.

Stay tuned, as Double G Sports will continue to follow this story and provide additional updates as they are released.