Jeremy Shockey’s tenure with the Giants came to an end yesterday, as the team traded its star tight end to the New Orleans Saints just three days before the start of training camp.

The Saints will send the Giants their second- and fifth-round picks in the 2009 draft, and the Giants will move on without Shockey, their starting tight end and one of their most recognizable players for the last six seasons.

The trade is a sign that the Giants’ front office and coaching staff has faith in Kevin Boss, who became the starting tight end last season after Shockey suffered a broken leg in a 22-10 loss to the Washington Redskins on December 16. Shockey’s absence coincided with the Giants’ hot streak that culminated in the Super Bowl, and while it would be a leap to conclude from the Giants’ final six games that they are better without Shockey, the Giants’ performance in January at the very least demonstrated that Shockey wasn’t as integral to the offense as he was long perceived to be.

Trade talks between the Giants and Saints have gone on throughout the off-season, and the teams were thought to be close to a deal in the days leading up to this year’s draft. It’s not clear why the teams pulled the trigger on the trade in July instead of April, but it is clear that Shockey, who had grown disgruntled with his role on the team, will be happier playing elsewhere.

But will the Giants be better off without him? That will depend mostly on the development of Boss, a 2007 fifth-round draft pick out of Western Oregon. When the Giants drafted Boss, he was seen as a long-term project who was unlikely to contribute to the offense as a rookie, and in the first half of the season, he didn’t catch a single pass. But he began to develop over the second half of the season, and when Shockey got hurt, Boss stepped in and played very well, catching a touchdown pass against the Redskins just eight plays after Shockey’s injury and turning in a big game two weeks later in the Giants’ regular-season finale against the New England Patriots.

By the time the Super Bowl rolled around, Boss had played well enough for long enough that he was asked at Super Bowl media day whether he was actually a better fit in the Giants’ offense than Shockey. Boss insisted that he wasn’t as good as Shockey, and he was right: Boss is a plow horse where Shockey is a thoroughbred, and Shockey’s raw athleticism adds a big-play element to the Giants’ offense that Boss can’t provide.

And yet the Giants may still be better off without Shockey. Although Shockey has talent as a run-blocker, he groused that the Giants’ offense called on him to block more than he liked. Boss makes no such complaints, and he is happy to play a complementary role in the passing game. Giants coach Tom Coughlin likes players who will buy into his system without complaint, and Boss fits that mold much better than Shockey ever has.

Shockey was selected to four Pro Bowls, so the Giants got what they hoped for when they chose him in the first round of the 2002 draft. But compared to what was expected of him, his six years as a Giant have to be viewed as something of a disappointment. Shockey became an instant star the first time he put on a Giants uniform, before his rookie season began: The spectacular catch-and-run in which he broke three tackles and ran over a Houston Texans defender in the first preseason game of 2002 was about as memorable a moment as the NFL’s exhibition schedule can produce. After catching 74 passes for 894 yards as a rookie, many Giants fans assumed that Shockey would reel off a series of 1,000-yard seasons, but in reality he never reached those statistical levels again.

The Saints, who could be competing with the Giants for one of the six NFC playoff berths five months from now, wouldn’t have given up two draft picks for Shockey if they weren’t confident that he would upgrade their offense. Saints head coach Sean Payton, who was the Giants’ offensive coordinator during Shockey’s rookie year, loves Shockey’s versatility, and in New Orleans Shockey will likely line up as a wide receiver as often as he plays tight end.

But while Shockey might make the Saints a better team, his absence won’t necessarily make the Giants worse. Eli Manning has too often forced the ball to Shockey, and during the Giants’ march through the playoffs, Manning looked liberated.

In Shockey and Michael Strahan, the Giants have now lost two of their highest-profile players this off-season, but thanks to the careful planning and successful drafting of general manager Jerry Reese, they have good young replacements ready to step into the starting lineup. What once would have been unthinkable is now reality: The Giants can part with Shockey and not miss a beat.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.