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New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley flashed superstar-level talent as a rookie in 2018, but has dealt with back-to-back injury-plagued seasons since.
In 2019, Barkley battled through a high-ankle sprain that severely limited his explosiveness. He attempted to come back too early from the injury and it hampered him for much of the year. Then, in 2020, he suffered a torn ACL in Week 2 and was lost for the season.
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By all accounts, Barkley has excelled on the comeback trail and while there is no exact timetable on his return, expectations are that he’ll be ready to go come Week 1.
But which Barkley are the Giants getting back? The rookie phenom or the injury-riddled 24-year-old who still flashes but can’t stay on the field?
Retired Giants running back Tiki Barber expects the former, saying that Barkley’s potential remains limitless so long as he can protect against further injury.
“Saquon’s ceiling is limitless,” Barber told FanSided’s Matt Lombardo. “Because he is a grounded athlete and extremely athletic.
“To stay healthy he will need to regain comfort on his reconstructed knee. Which means he will need to learn to run smarter, not harder, so that he does not continue to put himself in a dangerous position. Running through contact will help.”
Barkley has always been a full-go kind of player, but even he admits that the past two seasons have forced him to slow down a bit.
“This is helping teach me patience. When you’re a dad and you have a little three-year-old girl running around the house, that teaches you patience, too,” Barkley told reporters in June. “But also, when you have a sport that you love that’s taken away from you, you want to get back there as fast as you can obviously, but you have to be smart. At the end of the day I want to do the best for my team, not just for a short span but for a long time.”
Whether or not that translates to the field of play remains to be seen.
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