Biggest offseason of his life awaits Giants' Saquon Barkley
Saquon Barkley of the Giants celebrates his touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Falcons at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 26, 2021. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The offseason starts Monday for the Giants.
It will be the first time in about 16 months that Saquon Barkley will be able to pause.
That’s how long he has been working on, thinking about and rehabbing from the ACL tear he suffered in September 2020. It’s been an almost non-stop journey for him from the moment he was carted off the field with his injury to Sunday’s game against Washington, a long trek filled with more downs than ups and more struggles than victories.
It was a secondary concern as he dealt with the ankle injury that kept him out for more than a month this season, but it was always there lurking. Nagging. Hanging over him.
Now? A break. Finally.
At least for a few days.
Barkley won’t take much time before he starts to refocus his energies on what undoubtedly will be the most important season of his life. It will be the last year of his rookie contract, the last chance to show he still can be the player he was before his knee and ankles began to limit him. In 2022 he’ll become a reborn superstar or a cautionary tale. And it all begins with these next few months.
"I do believe the offseason definitely is going to be helpful for me," Barkley said this week, insisting he is not looking past the final game of the schedule but also acknowledging the significance of what lies just beyond it. "Now I can get back to the training and how I want to train and get my body in shape to get my body ready for a 17-game season and then some. I’m not saying I’m looking forward to it, but I know how helpful it’s going to be for my body and for the rest of my career."
Having the ability to use the time from now until the Giants report for training camp in July in a somewhat normal fashion for the first time since the end of the 2019 season should help Barkley’s production in 2022.
There are reasons why most players who tear their ACLs don’t fully regain their former level of play until their second season back. The first is just the time it takes to heal. But just as significant is missing out on the routines of an offseason program.
"For any player coming off of an injury, the following season of having an offseason without that rehab process is very beneficial," Joe Judge said. "That’s just naturally what it is where you can go out there and train your body . . . When you come off that second year as far as just the offseason and the approach, it’s a whole lot different than that previous year with the rehab."
Judge wouldn’t say that this offseason will magically turn Barkley into the Rookie of the Year he was in 2018.
"I think it’s dangerous to go ahead and group anybody under one category with any injury," he said. "Everybody’s different, every body is different, every injury is different."
He also noted that being this far removed from the initial injury doesn’t mean it no longer exists.
"Once you have an injury like that, the rest of your career, you’re always doing something preventive for it," he said. "When a guy’s coming off something that requires some kind of reconstructive surgery, they’ve got to always make sure they take time and they take the right process to support everything around that injury to keep everything else stronger. The work that goes in only gets volumed up and amplified as you go through your career."
Barkley had his best game in two years last week, rushing for 102 yards against the Bears on the same Soldier Field turf where he tore his ACL and began this lengthy process.
"It was something where I was able to get a flow in the game," he said. "The O-line did an amazing job opening holes and I was able to get back in a rhythm."
For many Giants players and coaches, it was their first time seeing him play with that kind of production in person.
"It was great to see him out there," left tackle Andrew Thomas said. "He was running the ball well. There were a few times we didn’t have them blocked all the way, they had extra guys in the box, and he made some pretty athletic moves to make some defenders miss, so I was proud of the way he played."
It was beneficial for everyone that Barkley performed the way he did. It was a reminder to teammates and the player himself of his capabilities.
But it’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to continue playing at that level — and beyond — next year.
Barkley knew it would be a grind to get to this point. The grueling rehab that made it possible for him to play in the opener in September was only half of the exhausting process. He still had to go through the season itself.
"I knew it wasn’t going to be easy," he said. "I’m just thankful that I’m still here, I’m still able to play the game that I love. I know that the ACL and the tough times through this year, that adversity will help mold me and build me into the man and the player that I’m going to be in the future."
A future that starts on Monday, when he can breathe. At least for a little while.
He did the rehab. He did the recovery. Now he gets to regroup.
The Giants’ 2021 season ends on Sunday just as it began, with questions about the health of the team’s best player (potentially) and concern that he will never be as good as he was in that fresh-from-the-box season in 2018.
The Giants’ 2021 season ends on Sunday just as it began, with questions about the health of the most important player on the team and concern that he will never be as good as he was in that fresh-from-the-box season in 2018.
This offseason will answer those questions and concerns one way or another.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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