Barkley leg wrap just a momentary scare
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was a play only Saquon Barkley could make.
The aftermath is what lent uncertainty, even for a few moments, to his injury status.
The Giants’ star rookie running back made a full-out fingertip grab of a Kyle Lauletta pass during team drills on Monday morning, leaving the defense in his wake as he raced up the left sideline.
The completion was a thing of beauty — “Throw it to the fastest back in the league, good things happen,” Lauletta joked afterward to “The Record” and NorthJersey.com — but Barkley appeared to slow up at the end of the play.
Barkley, 21, later had an ice pack on his left thigh/leg after getting stretched out, but by the end of practice, roughly 15 minutes later, the wrap was off and he walked with the rest of his teammates out of the field house.
Barkley could be heard telling teammates he was fine as they exited.
“Saquon has a mild strain, and we’ll be smart with him as we move along here,” Giants head coach Pat Shurmur said later in the afternoon via the team’s Twitter account.
The Giants were scheduled to leave for Detroit on a charter flight out of Newark about 6:30 p.m. ET Monday, and Barkley was expected to be with them.
They were heading to Allen Park, Michigan, to participate in three days of joint practices with the Detroit Lions beginning Tuesday morning in advance of Friday’s preseason game between the two clubs.
Clearly Barkley’s presence within the Giants offense is immense, even with the second overall draft pick out of Penn State having yet to take an NFL snap that counts.
His 39-yard run on his first carry of Thursday’s preseason opener against the Browns received a tremendous amount of praise and attention for his patience and overall skill set, which was on display.
How much teams should use their players, especially those such as Barkley and star wide receiver Odell Beck- ham Jr., in practice and in preseason game is always debatable.
The Giants have been fortunate to this point to not lose any of their frontline players and projected starters to serious injuries, especially when Washington, their NFC East rival, lost second-round running back Derrius Guice to a torn anterior cruciate ligament last week.
The concepts within Shurmur’s offense allow for a player of Barkley’s caliber to keep defenses on their heels.
Take a highlight from a practice last week in which Beckham motioned through the backfield post-snap from left to right, as if the Giants were throwing a swing screen to his side.
Eli Manning pump-faked to Beck- ham, then spun around to the left and dumped off a screen for Barkley, who picked up key blocks from center Jon Halapio and right guard Will Hernandez, and he sprinted down the left sideline.
“Coordinators are going to have a fun time figuring out how they’re going to get their matchups right,” Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher said with regard to Barkley last week.
It’s unclear how much work Barkley would get this week against the Lions, and that was before this situation popped up.
The Giants are likely going to be cautious with Barkley and Beckham in particular during early team drills, which tend to be more physical than usual.
Lauletta, the fourth-round rookie, and Davis Webb, the reserve quarterbacks to Manning, got extended work with the first team Monday.
Webb threw two touchdown passes to Beckham, while the highlight of Lauletta’s day was the sweet connection made with Barkley on a wheel route that the latter flattened out pretty quickly and got up the field in a hurry.
“He’s gonna make plays like that, and that’s where can utilize him in the passing game. He’s a matchup nightmare if we can get him in man coverage,” Lauletta said.
“I knew just get it out in front, don’t leave it short, if anything, miss far. He caught up to it. Looked pretty good to me.”