There might be more buzz about wide receiver Sterling Shepard at New York Giants minicamp than about first-round pick Eli Apple. The early returns on the Shepard back up his game film from college, showing a player who runs good routes and is faster than advertised.

Shepard fits what the Giants needed in a wide receiver, a quick, shifty and elusive playmaker who is explosive in the slot. What Shepard will bring on underneath routes and the attention he should draw likely will benefit the Giants’ deep passing game, causing safeties to respect the Giants in short yardage while leaving Odell Beckham and Victor Cruz in isolated coverage on the outside.

A theory that, if true, will open things down the field for more deep passes from quarterback Eli Manning to Beckham and Cruz.

Shepard has shown well initially at minicamp and throughout offseason workouts, creating optimism that he can make a difference as early as Week 1.

“I always have critical eyes as a coach. But Sterling, in all seriousness, is a young man that has demonstrated a suddenness, an explosiveness, an ability to make contested catches, to separate from defenders,” offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan said Wednesday.

“And something else that’s jumped out is we’ve thrown an awful lot at him. And as we’ve gone through the later [Organized Team Activities] and through the minicamp we’re giving him more repetitions with Eli and holding him to a high standard. And the thing is, he’s a rookie, he’s making mistakes, but he doesn’t make a lot of the same mistakes. He tends to be a quick study, and so I think that I’m excited where he’s headed and glad that he’s here.”

In college at Oklahoma, Shepard got 69 percent of all his repetitions in the slot. He showed good speed at the NFL Combine with a solid 4.48 time in the 40.