Joe Judge Discloses This Week's Plan for Saquon Barkley's Ramp-up

Joe Judge has no problem with letting running back Saquon Barkley get popped a few times in practice. But time with time running out on summer training camp and the preseason, if it's going to happen, it would have to happen soon.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 25, 2021 4:46 PM EDT

The Giants have three more training camp practices, one of which is a walkthrough and a preseason game to go before they turn their focus to the regular season.

While the Giants have accomplished quite a bit so far in camp, the one thing that hasn't happened yet but needs to is that running back Saquon Barkley, who has been off the PUP list now for over three weeks, has yet to get popped in practice.

That's because the Giants are doing everything they can not risk all the hard work the running back put into his rehab from a torn ACL injury suffered last year.

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But while that caution is reasonable, at some point, Barkley, who when he returns to practice Thursday after missing Wednesday's session due to personal reasons, will have to shed the red jersey he's going to wear for the rest of the week and start getting popped.

"I think every player has to have physical contact and experience the hits they’re going to take in a game before it becomes live, full speed in the regular season," Judge said.

"The reality of the nature is, the speed of the game increases from preseason to regular season to postseason. For us to put a player on the field without preparing him either through practice or preseason games without contact, we’re putting that player in danger and at a disservice."

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Judge and the Giants have been very calculating regarding what they have exposed Barkley to since he passed his physical. They have made sure to limit any team drills to those done in a controlled environment not to risk an overzealous player giving a little too much of a pop to the star running back.

The head coach also said that he didn't foresee Barkley taking part in contact drills the rest of the week either.

But Judge's protecting of Barkley can't go on indefinitely, as once he returns to the field for the regular season, all bets are off.

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"The reality is when you go out there in Denver, Washington, Atlanta...they’re trying to hit our players as hard as they can, as we are to them, make good form tackles and end a play," Judge said.

"The best thing you can do for your players is prepare them for what they’re going to see by putting them in controlled situations, experience the technique, let your body get used to the contact as close and collisions that are going to happen in a game, and then build on that as it goes to more 11-on-11 situations."

So while Barkley's getting popped in practice is a matter is settled, the question now becomes when the time is right for that to happen.

"We’ll decide what kind of contact it is and what kind of controlled drill we’re going to put him in before putting him in 11-on-11 and what we allow him to do," Judge said.

"But before we put him out there in live contact and just say 'Godspeed,' we’re going to make sure this guy’s prepared, because my number one priority is his health. Before anything else, it’s the health of the player before we get on to anything else."