Have you ever been stuck at a red light for so long that it feels like it might never change?
Welcome to Saquon Barkley’s world.
The Giants still have not fully cleared Barkley for Sunday’s game against the Broncos despite him passing every test so far in his return from a torn ACL. He was running routes and taking handoffs in individual drills during the option portion of Monday’s practice. Barkley has been involved in 11-on-11 drills for two weeks.
Next up will be a padded practice Wednesday during which he will be knocked around for the second time. The Giants also must release an official injury report Wednesday (for the first time since the end of last season) that will specify Barkley’s practice participation.
“I thought we had, for the first day, a good amount of what we had to do live contact last week,” coach Joe Judge said in reference to last Thursday’s reintroduction to a live practice tempo for Barkley. “We’ll see a little bit more.”
The Giants have practiced an abundance of caution with Barkley all offseason, never putting a timeline on his return even as chatter about a delay until Week 3 surfaced in July. There are only three days off between Week 1 and Week 2 on “Thursday Night Football” against Washington.
“In terms of just Saquon specifically, talking about the second game, we’re really focused on the first game right now,” Judge said. “That second game is obviously a very real thing being a short turnaround, but the reality is we’ve got the Broncos coming this week and we’ve got to have all our attention on that.”
The cautious approach is based on a combination of serving Barkley’s long-term best interest — he is expected to be the focal point of the offense far into the future, even though this is the final year of his contract — and keeping game-planning opponents guessing.
Barkley has played along every step of the way despite the slow-walk contradicting an image of superhuman athleticism. He always had Week 1 circled in the back of his mind, and an NFL Network report before Monday’s practice put Barkley as “very close” to gaining full clearance.
“That won’t be decided until later in the week,” Judge said. “I want to see how he responds to a couple things physically within his body and make the best assessment for him this weekend and going forward.”