EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey – New York Giants Saquon Barkley ended up with another hurdle when the first contact came into practice late last week with no problems, several sources told ESPN.
If all goes well in Wednesday’s padded practice, Barkley is expected to be on the field on Sunday for the team’s Week 1 game against the Denver Broncos. Their workload would still be limited, as the Giants continue to take a long-term approach with their running star. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported last week that Barkley was tending in the right direction to play against the Broncos, with only a late setback or that the Giants could slow him down.
Barkley was out of practice moving well on Monday afternoon.
“I can’t speak for him directly, but he was smiling today,” coach Joe Judge said.
The judge said “we’ll see a little more” of Barkley this week in practice. After that, the decision on the status of the current runner for the season opener will be made at the end of the week.
“I want to see how he physically responds to a couple of things about his body and do the best assessment for this week and beyond,” the judge said.
Barkley broke his ACL in his right knee last October and the Giants were very cautious with their main offensive weapon this spring and summer. Barkley did not appear in a preseason game and did not participate in live exercises until less than two weeks ago, wearing a contactless red T-shirt in New England.
His first touch of contact came Thursday in a padded practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
“I felt good practicing and practicing with all the team members,” Barkley said afterwards. “You think it was definitely necessary. I’m grateful to be here and prepare for the season.”
Mostly encouraging news for the Giants and their offense with Barkley, great receivers Kenny Golladay (hamstring) and Kadarius Toney (hamstring) and tight end Kyle Rudolph (foot) tending in the right direction for the first week.
The only tight end, Evan Engram (calf), has a big doubt to miss Sunday’s game.
“Some of these guys coming back right now, we’re optimistic about all of them,” the judge said. “We’ll see how they do it this week in practice.”