Giants head coach Pat Shurmur has not closed the door on running back Saquon Barkley playing against the Vikings on Sunday and said that the back would do more on-field work Thursday as he continues to make his way back from an ankle injury.
Barkley did do more work than the running he got in on Wednesday, but it wasn’t enough to list him as a participant in the team’s practice session. Barkley said after the session that he doesn’t feel he’d need to practice in order to play this weekend and did nothing to suggest he’s ruled himself out for a second straight game.
“Just feels good to get out there with my teammates,” Barkley said, via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY. “I think we’ve been having a great week of practice. Just gotta keep getting better. One more day to attack it on the field to prepare ourselves the best for the Vikings.”
Word at the time of Barkley’s injury was that he’d miss 4-8 weeks while recovering, but this week’s developments make it hard to believe that he’ll be out that long regardless of what happens on Sunday. Barkley credited his mental strength with speeding up the timeline because he would not “take a negative approach to” the recovery process.
As of now, that looks like as effective a remedy for ankle trouble as anything anyone else in the NFL has come up with so far.
