Giants' Daniel Jones highly anticipates return of Saquon Barkley
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, left, gets in reps as running back Saquon Barkley stands near him during Barkley's first practice of the season at training camp held at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Aug. 9. Credit: James Escher
Daniel Jones rattled off all the things you’d expect to hear about Saquon Barkley. Diverse skill set. Runs hard. Catches the ball well. Everything that made the running back one of the most electric and popular players in the NFL since he was picked second overall by the Giants.
"When he’s ready to go it’ll be good for us to have him back," Jones said.
It will be good for Jones, too, because so far in his career he hasn’t had much experience with the player he described. Jones’s entrance onto the Giants’ stage occurred in the same game in which Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain that kept him out of the next three games and certainly limited him physically once he did come back for the final 10.
Then last year, with Barkley starting the year healthy but playing behind an awful offensive line, they managed to be on the field together for an overwhelmingly unproductive game and a half.
In the 11 games in which the team’s top draft picks of 2018 and 2019 have started together — two of which, the first and the most recent, Barkley was unable to finish — Barkley has run for 100 or more yards just once and averaged 57.5 yards per game. The Giants are 2-9 in those contests.
So it’s no surprise that while many are downplaying Barkley’s readiness in accordance with the script designed to cast doubt on his availability for Sunday against the Broncos — Joe Judge went back to his refrain from the start of training camp about needing to consider Barkley’s long-term health while safety Jabrill Peppers noted that Barkley is "not 100 percent" — Jones could hardly contain himself in assessing the practice performances of the most important piece in the offense.
"He looks great," Jones said on Wednesday after a practice in which Barkley was officially listed as limited. "He’s done a great job following what the doctors and trainers have told him to do and he looks good practicing. He’s practicing hard… He’s an unbelievable athlete and you can tell with the ball in his hands he’s an explosive guy."
That may be the most overlooked aspect of Barkley’s return from his ACL injury. The Giants appear very close to medically clearing him to be on the field Sunday against the Broncos. What they’ll get from him once he arrives there still needs to be figured out.
"I’ve seen a lot of improvement," Judge said of Barkley’s ability to cut, stop and take off since he first returned to the practice field in late August. "When you come off an injury like this or any significant injury, there is a confidence level that a lot of people go through… You’ve got to get over that wall of confidence. I’ve seen Saquon push through that with how he works."
Barkley was asked earlier this summer about requiring time for his field vision and instincts to return. Those are the two elements that made him so dazzling in college and as an NFL offensive rookie of the year.
"Obviously, I am going to be a little behind than where I was when I last left off," he said. "That just naturally happens when you don’t play football for 11 months, 12 months, whatever it is. But my eyes are going to be alright because I’ve been watching a lot of film and watching a lot of practice. It’s different than watching and actually going out there and assimilating with the speed. It’s just trusting my steps, trusting my footwork, trusting the scheme and the line blocking, and all that stuff will come back together."
In time for Sunday? Not officially. Judge said he wants to have Barkley work in contact for three straight days — Wednesday’s fully-padded practice and then workouts on Thursday and Friday — before making any call on his availability for the opener.
"We have to put him through a couple of different things and see how he responds," Judge said. "He’s progressed nicely and has gotten better for us."
Better for the Giants, better for Daniel Jones, and better for Barkley himself.
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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