The Giants’ cautious Saquon Barkley rehab plan is nearing completion, and after plenty of news about the running back’s timetable this offseason, he is moving toward playing in Week 1.
Barkley is trending toward suiting up against the Broncos next week, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets. While the Giants will not decide on Barkley’s status until next week, no setbacks appear to have occurred.
The fourth-year back suffered his knee injury — ACL and MCL tears, along with meniscus damage — in Week 2 of last year, but he did not undergo surgery until late October. Since, the Giants launched a methodical recovery effort. Barkley met various checkpoints during training camp, going through seven-on-seven drills and joint practices ahead. He did not play in the preseason.
Ex-Bronco Devontae Booker may end up receiving more work against his former team and early in the season. Booker seeing more early-season touches has been rumored since May. It remains unclear when Barkley will resume a full workload, but after the uncertainty this offseason brought regarding his recovery, a Week 1 return would be a major win for all parties here.
Him along with Jones, are wasted picks. Neither have made the G-men above 500.
Gettleman is not a good GM but he would have looked like a complete dope if he had passed on Barkley in the 2018 draft. Hindsight can make anyone look like a genius.
Gettleman whimsical thought that adding Barkley — without upgrading the O line — could magically produce one more playoff run for Eli Manning. Rarely has a GM been so wrong.
Jones and it’s looking like Thomas were wasted picks. Barkley, however, was a no-brainer and most teams selecting in that position would have taken him. There’s no chance he would have dropped out of the top five, probably not the top three.
And single players, with the possible exception of QBs, do not have enough of an impact to ‘make’ a team .500. Barry Sanders is one of the greatest RBs in history, yet the Lions only finished above .500 in half of his ten seasons and were four games under .500 for his career.
The Giants actually won more games when Barkley was not on the field.
Not indicative of anything at all regarding Saquon’s talent or whether or not the Giants are a better team with or without him because it does not factor in opponent/strength of schedule, the rest of the roster, the caliber of the defense (absolutely terrible in Saquon’s first few years, good last year when Saquon was out) who the coach was, and a million other factors, one of which is the small sample size.
Also, Daniel Jones put up way better numbers with Saquon than he did without him.
Would agree with both your comments. A few years ago the Patriots went 4-0 with Jimmy G subbing for Brady who was serving a suspension. That doesn’t mean Jimmy is the superior QB.
Right. To further the point:
Without Barkley (ie, the 2020 season)
Coach – Joe Judge
Defense – 9th best in points allowed
Offense – 31st in points scored
With Barkley (2018 and 2019)
Coach – Pat Schurmer
Defense – 23rd (2018), 30th (2019) in points allowed
Offense – 16th (2018), 18th (2019) in points scored
It’s pretty easy to see how the Giants could be a better offensive team with Barkley yet have a worse record. It comes down to defense and coaching, with quite a few other factors (schedule, etc).
I think the best example of your point might have occurred in 2015. The Chiefs got off to a terrible 1-5 start and to make matters worse they lost RB Jamaal Charles for the season in week 6. Andy Reid rallied his team and went on an 11 game win streak from there. Does that mean Charles (with a 5.4 career rushing average) had been a liability all along?