Giants’ Barkley out for season with torn ACL

The organization’s worst fears were realized Monday morning as the New York Giants announced star running back Saquon Barkley suffered a torn ACL in Sunday’s 17-13 loss to the Chicago Bears.

Barkley underwent an MRI on his right knee at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City to confirm the tear. He will undergo surgery to repair the ligament “in the near future,” the Giants said in a statement.

Head coach Joe Judge offered no timetable for Barkley’s return except to confirm that he will indeed be out for the season.

“Obviously losing a player who’s such a good teammate and someone who’s such a hard worker on the field will impact your team in a lot of ways,” Judge said. “Saquon is a tremendous player. We have even more respect for him as a person. I personally hate it for this guy — as hard as he’s worked, as much impact as he has for this team.”

Barkley, 23, was voted as a team captain for the second straight year despite only being in his third NFL season. He was general manager Dave Gettleman’s first draft choice when the Giants picked second overall in 2018.

Barkley rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, also setting a rookie running back record with 91 receptions in 2018.

One of the most notable success stories for a running back coming off a torn ACL was in 2012, when Adrian Peterson won MVP after tearing both his ACL and MCL in December of 2011.

“This is a young guy who is very physically gifted,” Judge said. “There’s good doctors out there, he’s going to get the best medical care possible, we have a great training staff to help rehab him along the way, and we’re going to do everything in our position as coaches to keep him involved mentally sharp.

“When we finally get a chance to get him back on the field physically, obviously we’re going to make sure that we gear everything around his specific plan to get him going full speed at the right rate. But I’ll tell you what, I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again, I won’t fall asleep on 26. It’s going to be a hell of a story.”

Dion Lewis took over at running back Sunday after Barkley suffered the injury during the second quarter and rushed 10 times for 20 yards with a touchdown.

The only other backs currently on the roster are fourth-year pro Wayne Gallman, who was inactive Sunday, and fullback Elijah Penny.

According to multiple reports, the Giants planned to visit with free-agent running back Devonta Freeman for a workout. Freeman, 28, averaged 4.2 yards per carry and totaled 3,972 rushing yards with the Atlanta Falcons from 2014-19.

Judge said the Giants are currently “exploring all options” to replace Barkley.

“In terms of how we game plan and scheme, our focus will always change week by week,” Judge said. “Regardless of how our roster looks, we’re always going to do what’s best for the team going forward to match up with a specific opponent. The guys on our roster, we’re going to have to find ways to put them in positions of strength and find ways to match up our opponent favorably.”

The Giants may also be without Sterling Shepard for at least the short-term future.

The fifth-year wide receiver suffered a turf toe injury Sunday, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport. Judge only confirmed that Shepard has a “lower limb injury,” insisting he still had to check with the training staff for an update.

It’s a gut punch to an offensive arsenal that finally had Barkley, Shepard, wide receiver Golden Tate, wide receiver Darius Slayton and tight end Evan Engram all at quarterback Daniel Jones’ disposal. That hadn’t happened before Sunday because of previous injuries going back to last season, but it only lasted for one quarter.

“That’s NFL football,” Tate said. “Things happen, and if you look outside of our locker room, other teams had some pretty major injuries to some of their major players. We don’t just show up to work and say, ‘Alright, well we’re resigning this year.’ We’ve got to keep it going. We’re going to just continue to play ball, and that’s that. At the end of the day, no matter who we bring in and who we lose or what we think, we have a job to do.”

The NFL as a whole sustained a bevy of injuries in Week 2, including reported ACL tears to San Franciso 49ers outside linebacker Nick Bosa and Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffery suffered a high-ankle sprain.

Judge said Barkley’s freak injury had nothing to do with the shortened training camp and lack of preseason games.

“There was definitely a concern of us as coaches coming in without a preseason as to what position that would put our players in,” Judge said. “We obviously put a large focus on our conditioning, we put a large focus on our own recovery based on how we train these players and get their bodies for not only the physical contact that’s in the game, but also the conditioning their muscles need to sustain and recover.”