Undeniably, fantasy football owners and NFL fans alike were given immense hope when video showed New York Giants’ running back Saquon Barkley moving well while recovering from injury. However, the story has taken a turn the other way on Tuesday.
According to sources, Barkley is unlikely to play on Thursday night against the New England Patriots. Giants’ head coach Pat Shurmur would not confirm the report, and Barkley says no decision has been made at this time. Still, it doesn’t sound like one of the NFL’s best running backs will be suiting up on Sunday.
UPDATE: #NYGiants coach Pat Shurmur won't confirm reports that Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram are unlikely to play Thursday. Barkley says no decision has been made. https://t.co/6BVkpYb0wd
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) October 8, 2019
Shurmur offered about what you would expect him to on Monday regarding Barkley’s status. In the end, not much clarity was given.
“He’s doing great,” Shurmur said Monday, before adding that Barkley was closer to returning than he was last week.
Terrific, he’s closer than last week and doing great. Basically, we’re still left to read between the lines and believe these reports that come from a source that Barkley is still out.
Barkley has the dreaded ‘high ankle sprain’ injury that has become dreaded throughout the years. Once a player has this, it can be expected he miss at least a month and even a half season. Furthermore, Barkley had the same injury during his time at Penn State.
Remember, two key things are in play here. Originally the injury was thought to be a four to eight week injury, and Barkley is on day 16 since hurting the ankle. Second, the Giants play the Patriots on Thursday Night Football; which makes a return even less likely than if the game was going to be this coming Sunday.
Soon, the Giants will have Barkley back; likely next week by the sound of things. However, for the time being; it’s going to be another installment of Giants’ back-up running backs and Daniel Jones throwing it around. Certainly, Jones is an exciting young guy; but we have yet to see the new generation of Giants offensive football because of this injury to their star.
