Aug 14, 2021; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley (26) on the sidle line watches the game against the New York Jets during the second half at MetLife Stadium. Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports — Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants RB Saquon Barkley Encouraged After Doing Increased Team Drills

In his biggest workload yet, Giants running back Saquon Barkley went through some 7-on-seven and 11-on-11 team drills in the Giants' second day of joint practices against the New England Patriots.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 26, 2021 3:18 PM EDT

Giants running back Saquon Barkley returned to the team last night after being excused for personal reasons.

According to head coach Joe Judge, Barkley, who has yet to take any hits in practice as he continues to ramp up from his ACL injury, was to take part in approximately a dozen 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills (combined), who spoke to the media before the practice.

"The biggest thing we’re going to do is manage his volume. He’ll be in a red jersey (Thursday). Just like guys in red jerseys yesterday, it’ll be non-contact on those players, whether it’s a quarterback, punter or a position player. We want to make sure we stay off of them," Judge said.

"He’ll work mostly early in practice. We’re only looking to get this guy 10-12 or so reps, build his volume up little by little and when that’s done he’ll condition with the trainers."

The running back, sporting the red "no contact" jersey, did indeed take part in the team drills during Thursday's practice with the Patriots, his final tally being eight reps (four each in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11. And in two of the 11-on-11 drills, Barkley caught passes from Daniel Jones.

"It felt good," Barkley said after practice. "Obviously, I wasn’t at practice yesterday, but it feels good being with the team, feels good to get a couple of team reps. It’s just fun to be able to play football again, feel like a little kid and just taking it day by day."

This summer, the Giants have been cautious with Barkley, taking a very conservative approach toward increasing his workload each day. But the good news is that diligence has paid off as Barkley not only has responded in the work he's received, he's also had no known setbacks necessitating the Giants to dial back his workload.

Judge said earlier this week that he would like for Barkley to get some live contact work at some point before the start of the regular season. Thus far, that hasn't happened, but Barkley is hoping it does soon.

"I definitely want to get hit again," he said. "To me, it’s not just the hitting, it’s just playing football. Even though I only took two reps and a couple of reps in 7-on-7, those reps are so valuable right now and going to help me in the long run."

Barkley also shared that he didn't give his surgically repaired knee a second thought during Thursday's drills.

"I really didn’t think about that at all," he said. "When I caught the ball, I wasn’t even thinking about my knee or anything."

Earlier this summer, Judge did not rule out the possibility of Barkley seeing some preseason game snaps, though he added the circumstances would have to be right for that to happen.

Since Judge made those comments, the thinking is that he would wait for the game against the Patriots, a team that has a host of players that Judge personally knows from his time on the coaching staff.

However, that doesn't mean Barkley getting some preseason snaps is a given, as it will depend on how he feels and what the doctors believe he's able to handle.

"The biggest thing coming off of an injury like this is it’s the reactionary speed," Judge said. "It’s not the running with the trainers in a straight line; it’s not having a predetermined cone drill you’re going to work off of.

"It’s the quick reaction on movement, on finding the space, on trying to avoid somebody. That’s really what you’ve got to go ahead and train your body in a game, so we’re going to start small and then we’ll go ahead and go from there."

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