New York Giants offensive guard Will Hernandez discusses Saquon Barkley’s eventual return to the game field.
There’s a first for everything, no matter what type of life you live. For New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, a new first arrived this season. For the first time in his NFL career, the Penn State product missed regular-season games.
The 2018 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year has been nursing a high ankle sprain suffered in a Week 3 win over Tampa Bay.
Barkley has missed matchups against the Redskins, Vikings, and Patriots since the setback, as New York has played Wayne Gallman, Jon Hilliman, and Elijhaa Penny in his place. Therefore, Giants fans are eagerly waiting for him to return to the game field. Barkley, himself, is even more eager, according to teammates.
“He’s kind of like a caged lion,” second-year guard Will Hernandez said, per Tom Rock of Newsday. “When you cage them up and you don’t feed them, they get antsy, and as soon as you let them out of that cage they go crazy and they eat more than they would’ve had they not been caged in the first place.
“Saquon feels like he wants to be out there, he wants to play, but he can’t. But the minute he gets the chance to run free he’s going to take advantage of it and he’s going to make it worth watching for everybody.”
It’s unclear what Barkley’s next steps are. Will doctors clear him for the team’s home matchup with the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday? Will he sit for what would be his fourth straight game (one-quarter of the entire regular season)? If it’s the latter, the Giants will have Penny and the newly-signed Javorius “Buck” Allen man the running game.
If Barkley does indeed return to the field this Sunday, look for him to run wild, as Big Blue searches for their third win near the halfway mark of the regular season.
