Triceps surgery may end Vereen’s season
The Giants provided a devastating explanation for Shane Vereen’s uncharacteristic fumbling on Monday: Their top dual-threat running back has a triceps injury that will require surgery and could sideline him for the rest of the season.
“Shane is a tremendous football player,” coach Ben McAdoo said in his weekly conference call. “Our thoughts go to him with that tough injury. I feel for the player. He’s a good football player, and I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Vereen lost a fumble for the second straight week during Sunday’s 29-27 loss to Washington at MetLife Stadium, a high irregularity for a sixth-year veteran who had lost just one fumble through the first 58 games of his career prior to this season.
Vereen, starting in place of the injured Rashad Jennings (left wrist, thumb), didn’t address the media postgame because he had to see the team doctor. McAdoo didn’t “know for sure” if Vereen’s fumbling was connected to the injury, but the coach did say, “I think he was playing with (the injury) for a significant amount of time.”
It took all afternoon to decipher if Vereen will in fact miss the entire rest of the season.
The team originally announced Vereen’s surgery would be seasonending, but an NFL Network report clarified Vereen might have a chance to come off injured reserve after an approximate two-month recovery time. A Twitter account appearing to belong to Vereen’s agent called out the Giants on the error.
“The need to be right should far outweigh the need to be first,” Ryan Williams of Athletes First tweeted, quoting the Giants’ tweet announcing the “season-ending” surgery. “Especially when it comes to an injury. Possibility it is not season-ending.”
The Giants acknowledged there is a best-case scenario in which Vereen could be back, if the Giants haven’t already exercised the right to activate a player off injured reserve previously.
Regardless, Vereen’s injury is a huge blow.
Vereen, 27, signed a three-year, $12.35 million free agent deal with the Giants in the summer of 2015 after catching 11 Tom Brady passes in Super Bowl XLIX for the champion New England Patriots.
Last year, in his first season as a Giant, Vereen finished with the second-most receptions (59) on the roster behind only Odell Beckham Jr. (96). This season, Vereen was tied with Jennings for a teamhigh 31 carries to go along with eight catches for 75 yards as the Giants’ top pass-catching back. He also boasted a 4.7 yards-per-carry average to Jennings’ 3.3-clip.
McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese could add another running back after re-evaluating the roster this week, heading into a stiff Monday Night Football road test at the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. But as of Monday, the Giants’ running back core included a banged-up Jennings, Orleans Darkwa, Bobby Rainey and fifth-round rookie draft pick Paul Perkins out of UCLA.
Jennings’ availability for Week 4 is unknown.
Darkwa played well Sunday (10 carries, 53 yards, one touchdown) in his first significant work of the season, but he and Jennings are both more traditional backs. Rainey is only player in the dual-threat mode of Vereen.
OTHER AILMENTS
A Charlotte, N.C., specialist determined that rookie safety Darian Thompson (left foot) does not require surgery on the injury that sidelined him Sunday. Thompson will remain in a boot and continue to be evaluated on a weekto-week basis … McAdoo said it was too early to rule out corners Eli Apple (hamstring) and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (groin) from Week 4 due to injuries they sustained against Washington. … Bobby Hart would start a second straight game at right tackle if Marshall Newhouse (calf) once again can’t go.