By Nakia Hogan, The Times-Picayune
October 12, 2009, 5:00AM
Jeremy Shockey takes a deep breath, holds it for a second, then rakes his fingers through his shaggy blond locks. His lips curl into a smile as he gathers his thoughts.
He knows he is at peace now.
Sitting on a black couch in the Saints’ locker room with his legs crossed, not a worry in his football-playing world, the fiery tight end begins to gush about his move to New Orleans.
He talks about his love for the people of New Orleans, about how nice and kind they’ve been. He goes on and on about his admiration for General Manager Mickey Loomis and Coach Sean Payton. He praises quarterback Drew Brees and the offense and the surging defense.
“It’s been very open arms ever since I got here, ” Shockey said. “Everyone in the locker room greeted me with open arms. Everyone has been great ever since I got here.”
Indeed, everything does appear kosher in Shockey’s world now that he’s healthy and catching passes and the Saints are off to a 4-0 start.
Since being traded to the Saints from the New York Giants, Sunday’s opponent at the Superdome, Shockey has gradually become one of the centerpieces of the Saints’ juggernaut offense.
He has become a threat down the seams of the defense and the perfect check-down receiver for Brees, who has connected with Shockey for a team-leading 18 receptions for 162 yards and two touchdowns, both in Week 1 vs. the Lions.
That’s exactly what the Saints envisioned when they shipped second- and fifth-round draft picks to the Giants on the eve of training camp last year for Shockey.
But that impact didn’t come so quickly.
Shockey suffered a sports hernia injury early on, and although he caught 50 passes (with no touchdowns) last season, he never truly provided the type of consistent play that warranted parting with two draft picks.
Until now.
“It’s come a long way, ” Brees said of the pass-catching combination. “Last year we really didn’t get any time to work together prior to him getting thrown in there to begin the season because he was hurt for the majority of training camp.
“So we really didn’t get the time to build that trust and rapport. This offseason, preseason and training camp, we’ve gotten a lot of time, and I think that’s shown.”
When discussing his improvement from a year ago, Shockey’s smile grows brighter. It’s obvious he is happy not only with the team but also the city and his surroundings.
“It was a blessing in disguise last year getting hurt, actually, because I was able to get healthy and get to pick up the offense, ” he said. “The offense is very complex. We do a lot of different things.
“I’m very fortunate to come to an organization that’s on the up-rise, and that’s very encouraging. The New Orleans people have been nothing but awesome.”
For Shockey, times certainly have changed.
BITTER TASTE
Jeremy Shockey holds grudges, he’ll admit.
He doesn’t forget about the people who’ve betrayed him, the general managers, the coaches, the teammates, the media, the friends.
He remembers all of them.
And though he tries to hide his disdain for certain people and certain situations, Shockey can’t always hold back.
“Bitter taste in my mouth” is how Shockey described it. “Things that happened between some people and myself, that bitter taste will always be in my mouth. It’s just something that if you cross me once — it’s hard enough to gain my trust as it is — and if you lie to me and if you say something behind closed doors between that person and myself . . .
“I needed change in my life. I needed change in the situation and scenario I was in because they were making a big deal out of nothing.”
It still eats at him how he departed the Giants, where he at times served as a bombastic emotional barometer for the team.
Giants General Manager Jerry Reese, who verbally sparred with Shockey during the months leading to the trade, is not a favorite of Shockey’s.
It’s upsetting to Shockey that after breaking his leg while playing for the Giants in 2007, he said the team didn’t fly him to Tempe, Ariz., for the Super Bowl.
Instead, he footed the bill. And when he arrived, he wasn’t allowed to stay at the same hotel with his teammates or even watch from the sideline (he viewed the game from the press box).
Shockey said none of this would have happened if former Giants owner Wellington Mara, whom Shockey had developed a bond with, was still living.
“I was very close with the owner, ” Shockey said. “He passed, and I was at the funeral. I believe, and I know in my heart, if those guys were there some of this stuff would have never happened. And I would probably still be playing there. But everything happens for a reason. It happened, and I’ve moved on. I know they’ve moved on, and I’ve moved on, and I feel great about the situation.
“I thought I had a successful six years there, and I did some things to help the organization, marketing-wise — I know they made a lot of money off of jersey sales and the things I’ve done for them. Going to the Pro Bowl four out of six years is a very big accomplishment, and I was expecting a little more respect than I was receiving.”
In Shockey’s eyes, he could do no right when it came to the media in New York, who chronicled nearly every move of the breakup between Shockey and the organization.
“If you look back at all the articles ever written and all the hoopla and all the media people, I never really commented, ” Shockey said. “They kind of speculated. And that’s the thing I didn’t like.
“It was all this speculation, and people were always writing articles about me, but the guy who the article was about never commented. I just never commented.”
HAPPY TIMES
Shockey has no problem with his tough-guy image.
He revels in it.
He’s the Saint you’d probably least want to pick a fight with, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound bouncer look-alike with bulging-muscle-filled-tattooed arms.
He’s the Saint that fans have begun to gravitate to in a way they haven’t since Kyle Turley left in 2002.
He’s the Saint most likely to be seen sitting courtside at Hornets games, giving the referees a hard time and leaping onto the court after a big play from Chris Paul.
He’s the Saint most likely to throw a postgame tantrum, the free spirit who doesn’t mind telling a reporter to shove his recorder where the sun doesn’t shine.
He’s the Saint that was supposed to be the difference maker for an already-potent offense.
So far, so good.
“Everybody thinks of Jeremy as a bad boy, bad teammate, always doing things on his own, ” said Saints injured tight end Billy Miller, whose locker is next to Shockey’s. “But I’ve found him to be the complete opposite.
“He’s a great teammate who both shares his knowledge and accepts insight from other players. He’s a great team guy.”
Payton, who was the Giants’ offensive coordinator in 2002, Shockey’s rookie season and his most productive (74 catches, 894 yards), agreed.
“I’d rather have a player that’s passionate about what he’s doing, ” Payton said. “He comes here in the morning, and it’s all football. Bring me a bunch of those guys.”
That’s precisely why Shockey, when it was time for a trade to be made from the Giants, told his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, that New Orleans was the place he wanted to be.
He knew Payton would give him an opportunity to flourish. He knew he could return to his Pro Bowl days. He said he also knew this team had championship potential.
“It’s been a blessing, ” he said.
But all hasn’t been rosy in New Orleans. Shockey has had a hiccup, or two, along the way.
There was the animated discussion on the sideline between Brees and Shockey last year against Atlanta, which both players downplayed.
There were the missed voluntary offseason workouts that Shockey said he had his coach’s blessing for.
“I know I missed a couple days in voluntary minicamp because of some permit things for my condo in Miami, ” he said. “That would have gotten blown overboard in New York. They would have been saying, ‘He’s not attending voluntary minicamp again. He’s off doing his own thing.’
“Well, no, I talked to Sean, and I missed three or four days of work, and it was no big deal.”
And there was the infamous “dehydration” incident in Las Vegas that sent Shockey to the hospital. But that too, Shockey said, was no big deal.
“My agent and Mickey talked two minutes after it happened, ” Shockey said of the Las Vegas tryst. “It was not a big deal. That was another big media in L.A. thing that blew something up that wasn’t that bad.
“Just because of who I am and what I’ve done over the past couple of years, I’m always going to be the guy that if two people get in trouble and two people do the exact same thing, I’m going to be the one that’s going to be the headline just because that sells.”
Recently, though, there have been no negative headlines.
And Shockey even laughs at the notion.
“Knock on wood, ” he said.
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