Barkley undergoes surgery to repair knee ligament

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Forty days after he tore his ACL in Week 2 of the season, Saquon Barkley underwent surgery to repair the ligament and his damaged meniscus in Los Angeles on Friday.

“It sounds like it was a positive deal,” Giants coach Joe Judge said on Saturday. “Obviously we’ll know more as time goes on and his rehab starts. It seems like he is in good sprits and we’re looking forward to getting him back over here on this side of the country.”

Barkley’s mother, Tonya Jackson, posted a picture of him in a hospital bed with two thumbs up on Friday afternoon. “Surgery was a success,” she wrote.

There were multiple reasons why the surgery took place so long after the injury. First, doctors wanted Barkley to strengthen his leg muscles around the joint – known as pre-habbing – to allow him to dive into the actual post-surgery rehab more thoroughly. They also wanted to allow for the swelling in the knee, from peripheral damage to the MCL, to decrease.

Ultimately, though, it was the Dodgers who caused the biggest delay. Barkley chose to have Dr. Neal ElAttrache perform the surgery, but he is the surgeon and team physician for the Dodgers and with the team in the World Series bubble in Arlington, Texas, until they clinched he title on Tuesday night.

Barkley now has 10 or so months to be ready for opening day 2021.

Shepard still nagged by turf toe: Sterling Shepard wasn’t even aware he had been on the injury report all this week. The Giants called him as a limited participant in each of their practices, including Saturday’s.