I wasn’t going to take a negative approach - Saquon on overcoming his injury

A look at what's been driving running back Saquon Barkley's rapid recovery from a high ankle sprain.

If you still aren’t convinced running back Saquon Barkley has had some super-human strength, then perhaps his return to jogging and cutting not even two weeks after suffering a high ankle sprain that was supposed to keep him sidelined four- to eight-weeks will do the trick.  

For Barkley, who has been attacking his rehab with the same vigor as he attacks defenses, he’s also set his mind on getting back to the playing field just as soon as possible.  

“From the day I got hurt, I wasn’t going to allow myself to take a negative approach to it,” Barkley said Thursday. “I’m a big believer with healing, a lot of it is mental.”

Barkley would not confirm an exact timeline for how much longer he would be sidelined, and wouldn’t say how far along he was in his recovery. 

But he did share what he was able to do in Thursday’s practice once the practice was closed to the media. 

“I got to open up and run full speed and cut a little bit more,” Barkley said. “It’s the last day on the field we technically have to prepare for a very great team and try to find a way to get three in a row.”

Head coach Pat Shurmur has insisted that Barkley hasn’t been ruled out of Sunday’s game, but that might be a matter of semantics since players don’t have to be ruled out until Friday. 

“I think we constantly check with our doctors, and we make sure that he’s on the right track to come back,” Shurmur told reporters Thursday. “So, we’ll just see.”

Shurmur showed some amusement over the four- to eight-week time frame that got attached to Barkley’s injury and explained that inside the team’s East Rutherford headquarters, they don’t automatically assign a block of time for an injured player’s return.

“Within the building, we know that all people are different, and that’s why you hear us say day-to-day or week-to-week,” he said.

“I think that’s where we’re at with all the injuries because as different as people are, they respond differently to injuries. Sometimes the injuries are more or less severe but still get categorized. That’s where I think we have to be careful when people are trying to predict when a player comes back.”

Throughout the healing process, Barkley said that he has trusted the doctor’s judgment completely. He has been listening to the Giants training staff as well as the second opinion of two specialists and has weighed everyone’s advice in deciding for his health that is best for the team.

Barkley knows it’s important to balance his desire to get back on the field as soon as possible with being smart about not rushing himself. 

“I’m a competitor and want to be out there for my team,” he said. “But when you say ‘team,’ it’s not just only in this building or on the football field. I have to trust my team in there.”

When he does come back, Barkley isn’t about to waste time thinking about his injury because, as he pointed out, injuries are part of the game.

“If I’m worried about (the injury), I should give up football. And I don’t plan on giving up football any time soon.”

Until he gets the green light from the Giants medical staff to return, Barkley said he’ll do whatever he can from the background to help his team win games. 

“I feel like I need to do whatever helps the team win,” he said. 

“I love having the team mindset that I have on the field, but it’s not just on the field football, it’s off the field, too. We have a great team and a great staff, and I’m going to continue to trust them, and I know they are going to put me in the right position. 

“If they feel like if not this Sunday, then it’s not this Sunday.”

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