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When New York Giants rookie safety Xavier McKinney went down with a fractured foot in training camp, the initial timeline that had been discussed postulated the second-round pick would return in mid-November.
That timeline has proven to be relatively accurate as McKinney has been seen working with trainers on the side during practice, doing some running and other resistance work.
Although McKinney is eligible to be designated to return from injured reserve, the Giants may wait an additional week or two before making that decision.
“That’s still up in the air,” head coach Joe Judge said of McKinney returning this week. “I don’t know if we will necessarily see him this week. He was on the field the other day running with the trainers. I haven’t had much of a chance with my own eyes to really get my eyes on him. I know he’s making a lot of progress. I’m getting positive reports on him. We have until Wednesday. He’ll be with the trainers tomorrow, that may shed a little bit more light on it for us. Based on how we practice Wednesday, if we go full tilt or some kind of an abbreviated walk thru, or short fundamentals practice, we haven’t decided yet. That may affect whether or not we start his clock on that day or not.”
The same line of thinking applies to linebackers Oshane Ximines and Tae Crowder.
“With Oshane and Tae, they are very similar to X-man. We have to figure out where they’re at physically and when do we want to start their clock. All of them have made a lot of progress. Some are a little bit closer than others. I want to see where they’re at,” Judge said. “The biggest thing I’d say at this point is because you have the bye week coming up next week, we want to be very calculated when we start their clock, that 21-day window. If you start it too early and then you lose another week with the bye week anyway, it may set them back.
“There’s a benefit of getting them going with us right away, getting their legs back under them, get them back playing football. There’s also a benefit of holding a little bit knowing you have the bye week next week and there’s really no advantage to getting them to a game next week anyway. There’s a couple different avenues we can take with these guys. I want to see where they’re at physically. We talked this morning with the trainers and basically said, ‘hey look, tomorrow we have to have some answers to at least help us make a better decision.’ ”
With the additional bye week looming, the Giants do not seem rushed about getting any of the three back. And while they could potentially return to the field on Wednesday, it’s far more likely Judge holds them out until the team returns from their bye on or around November 25.
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