Giants RB Saquon Barkley Will Continue His Fight Through Another Disappointing Season
Within a few hours following the devastating knee injury that ended his 2020 season after just five quarters of play, Giants running back Saquon Barkley vowed to author "one helluva comeback story."
He worked hard--probably to the point of exhaustion--anxiously awaiting every green light by the doctors on when he could do a little bit more than he had the day before. And he seized each opportunity, his sights never straying from the goal to get back on the field with his teammates--his brothers, as he calls them--to continue building something special.
Fate, however, hasn't been very kind to Barkley. the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft whose special abilities prompted Giants general manager to quip how the former Penn State star had been "touched by the hands of God."
After an award-winning rookie campaign in which he looked every bit like future "gold jacket" running back, Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain in his second season that cost him a few games, though he still managed to crack 1,000 yards rushing (barely).
Then came the ACL injury in his third season, the year he was supposed to continue reaffirming his developing greatness by capping things off with another 1,000-yard rushing performance and, with a bit of luck, a lucrative multiyear contract that would make him among the highest-paid, if not the highest-paid at his position.
Instead, Barkley, on a second-quarter carry on the famed Soldier Field in Chicago, took what appeared to be a routine hit only to find his leg give out from under him. As he lay on the grass field in pain, Barkley's promising career would soon have to be put on hold while he faced a long, sometimes arduous road ahead of surgery to repair a torn ACL and the accompanying rehab.
Like anything else that's popped up in his life, Barkley attacked that adversity head-on and was finally given the green light by doctors to return to full-time action with zero restrictions for the start of the 2021 season.
With each passing week, he started to look like the Saquon of old. Still, unfortunately, this time, he was set back yet again with a sprained ankle suffered in Week 5 against the Cowboys, an injury initially thought to be only a 1-2 week affair that ended up costing him double that amount.
Since returning, Barkley still hasn't looked like himself, and he's admitted that the ankle is something he's going to have to deal with the rest of the season. He has been a frequent name on the Giants' weekly injury report, as the team looks to manage his practice reps in hopes of getting him through these waning weeks of the season.
But he's not the same, nowhere close. His average yards per attempted rush stands at 3.5, a career-low not counting his significantly abbreviated 2020 season. The same can be said of his yards after contact average (2.72) and the sharp reduction in the number of missed tackles forced (17 on 130 rushing attempts).
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Opponents seem to have had more success of late bringing Barkley down by the ankles, and with very few exceptions, that breathtaking second gear of his has mostly been dormant.
"I know Saquon has been battling through a number of things this year," head coach Joe Judge said. "Came off a traumatic injury last year – that’s a tough recovery. He’s dealt with a number of other things, as well. The ankle in the Dallas game, that’s really been lingering throughout the year."
Judge said he admired Barkley, one of his team co-captains, for his determination to push ahead regardless of his body's betrayal.
"I see this guy go through a lot of things preparation-wise in the week, treatment-wise, and extra recovery-wise trying to get his body back to it. I’ve seen a lot of flashes lately that this guy has really had some good games for us in previous weeks, and he’s out there battling and playing really hard and going through some tough circumstances," Judge said.
No, Barkley hasn't been helped by the Giants offensive line, ranked 24th by Football Outsiders for average second-level yardage (1.12) and 25th on runs stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage.
But neither has his body, which is why the question of whether to shut Barkley down so he can get a jump start on getting healthy for what will be a big season for him next year--he'll be in his option year, counting for nearly $3 million less against the cap than he did this year as he aims to convince the Giants that he's worthy of a new multiyear contract.
Judge seemed surprised at first by the question but then quickly offered a response about the possibility of putting Barkley on the shelf for what amounts to two remaining meaningless games filled with risks of further injury for a guy who's already hurting more than he probably would like to admit.
"In terms of shutting him down for the year deal, that’s more something that our medical team has not approached me about," Judge said. "At this moment, there wouldn’t be any medical reason, at least that they brought to me, about shutting him down. Anytime we have those conversations, that's for a player’s immediate and long-term health consideration.
"He’s out there, he’s playing. He’s dinged up in a lot of ways, as most of the players in the NFL are this time of year. No one’s 100 percent, but he’s battling through a lot of things for us.
"In terms of the long-term question for the rest of the year, no one on our medical staff has talked to me about anything related to that at this point."
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