Jeremy Shockey won't follow in T.O.'s footsteps: Saints mailbag

Q: A lot has been made recently about Terrell Owens missing voluntary workouts when he has a personal trainer. Will Jeremy Shockey do the same thing with the Saints this year and not attend voluntary workouts? If you don't know then when does voluntary work-outs for the Saints start to monitor that situation? Stephen LeCompte, Houston, TX

A: You'll be happy to know, Stephen, that Shockey did report to the Saints' offseason conditioning program, which began on Monday. And, really, I don't expect Shockey to be anything like Terrell Owens this offseason. He's committed to making things work in New Orleans - where else would he have it better than here? - and he's determined to put last year's disappointing season behind him. I don't know how much time he'll spend in New Orleans vs. Miami, where he has always worked out in past offseasons. But he said after last season that he plans to spend more time at the team's practice facility than ever before. Here's the whole quote: "I'm going to do a lot of work with Drew. I'm going to be here working with these guys. I haven't done that in five or six years, and I'm not saying that I didn't make the right decision in the past. Just here, I think it would benefit myself and the team a lot more than it would if I was playing, doing the one up in New York. So I'm going to still work out in Miami, that's the normal plan, but really show my face and come around here a lot more than I've ever done in my whole career."

(blog.nola.com)