Giants RB Saquon Barkley "Likely" Back by Week 3 | Report

The Giants are reportedly willing to have their star running back miss a few games rather than risk him having a setback.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 6, 2021 10:18 AM EDT

As important as the upcoming season is to the New York Giants, the team refuses to take any unnecessary risks jeopardizing the long-term health of star running back Saquon Barkley in his return from a torn ACL.

The NFL Network reports that Barkley, who is currently on the Active/PUP list as he continues the latter stages of his rehab, will "likely" be back by Week 3 of the season, though there remains an outside chance that he'll be able to give the team some snaps as soon as Week 1.

The Week 3 scenario would mean Barkley would be back on the field in a game on September 26, a year and six days removed from when he first suffered the injury last year in a Week 2 game at Chicago.

Barkley underwent reconstructive surgery to repair his ACL and a partially torn meniscus. He also suffered a sprained MCL in his original injury, but that particular injury reportedly didn't need to be addressed via surgery.

Barkley had his surgery on October 30, a little over a month after suffering the initial injury, as he had to wait for the swelling to subside.

Ever since having the surgery and beginning his rehab, neither Barkley nor the Giants have committed to a definitive date or even a period as to when the running back might be able to return.

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The good news is Barkley has been out on the practice field every day, going through a series of increased activities under the watchful eye of the trainers. That activity has included sprints, cuts, and straight-line running in addition to simulating football moves.

"He’s making a lot of strides for us. I don’t want to go ahead and make any predictions or anything on Saquon, but I will say that this guy’s showing progress, tangible progress every day with our medical staff, with our strength staff," Judge said earlier this week.

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"He comes out here and works. Right now, we’ve really mirrored his rehab to what our players are doing on the field practice-wise to make sure that he’s building up that same volume, that same intensity. We can kind of go apples to apples with what he’s done on a daily basis compared to the players that are in practice to give us a better picture in terms of where he is physically."