Why the New York Giants Held Saquon Barkley Out of Drills Against Browns

After getting into a few team drills last week, Giants running back Saquon Barkley was held out of team drills against the Browns. Here's why.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Aug 19, 2021 8:40 PM EDT

Last week, Giants running back Saquon Barkley caused a few eyebrows to be raised when he appeared to have snuck into a seven-on-seven drill during a Giants training camp practice.

“He didn’t sneak in,” head coach Joe Judge said Thursday before his team took the field for the first of two joint practices against the Cleveland Browns in Berea, Ohio.

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“Everything we’re doing for him is very scripted for him. We’re very specific about who he’s working against on our team to make sure we’re really controlling the reps.”

To that end, Judge and the Giants decided to hold Barkley out of any team reps against the Browns Thursday as the running back continues to engage in various drills to advance his ramp-up ahead of the regular season.

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And Judge also admitted that had the Giants been practicing back in East Rutherford against each other instead of with the Browns, Barkley might have had a little more work to do in the team drills, similar to what he did last week.

But Judge and the Giants, who have made it a point not to rush Barkley back from a torn ACL and subsequent surgery, are sticking to the plan of letting Barkley get up to speed on his own pace and own terms.

That plan has thus far yielded positive results as the running back hasn’t had any known setbacks or had his work from the previous day dialed back.

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“We’re going to limit the contact at this point,” Judge said. “He’s definitely advancing in his rehab. We’re going to keep on pushing him as far as we can.

“Going against another team in competitive drills, we don’t think that’s the smartest avenue for any of our players coming off of injury right now, so we’re going to be careful with Saquon, but he is progressing in his rehab.”