Giants running back Saquon Barkley is a man on a mission.
Just over nine months after tearing his ACL in Week 2 of the 2020-21 NFL season, Barkley is back on the field. The 2018 first-round pick posted a video Tuesday on Instagram showcasing his agility and athleticism.
Barkley cut around cones, ran routes and caught passes. He also conducted drills on the beach.
In the clips, Barkley makes sharp turns and tests his lateral movement, looking strong and ready to make an impact on his team.
It has been a busy week for the Penn State product. Barkley practiced his golf swing at the driving range with trainer George Gankas Saturday afternoon. While less physically taxing than the gridiron, his swings put pressure on his knee and he passed the test.
Barkley missed all of OTAs and minicamp rehabbing his knee injury — a recovery that can take up to a full year. It is currently unclear if he will be healthy when training camp starts on July 27 and there is no timetable on his return.
“I’m going to take it one day at a time, come in with my head down and ready to work,” Barkley said earlier this month. “I’m fortunate enough that I don’t think that I have anyone around me — not going to think I know from top to bottom, there’s nothing that’s going to be forced for me to come back. It’s going to be whenever my body tells me I’m ready and it will show when I’m ready to go, that’s when I’ll be able to go out there and be hopefully as good as I was before or even better.”
If Barkley is healthy, it will be a big boost to the Giants offense. He rushed for 1,307 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2018, building off of that strong start with 1,003 yards and six-touchdowns a year later. He has added 1,219 yards and an additional six end zone trips as a receiver during his NFL career, too.
The Giants open their season in East Rutherford against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 12.
“We are going to make sure that we take [Barkley’s] rehab at the correct rate for his individual body and injury. It’s not any mirror of anybody else’s injury out there,” Giants coach Joe Judge said. “We have to make sure that we let him get it at his pace and put him on the field, can play 100 percent aggressive and confident and he’s going to play safe and he can play effective.”