Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard not ruling out a New York Giants game boycott

There’s a possibility the New York Giants could boycott a game to protest social injustice, according to a pair of offensive starters.

In the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, many professional athletes have taken a stand by not playing their respective games. As a form of protesting social injustice, NBA players boycotted Wednesday’s games and some MLB teams additionally decided not to play their matchups on that day either.

Of course, the NFL won’t be playing any games until Sept. 10’s regular-season commencement between the Chiefs and Texans, but that doesn’t mean teams won’t take similar action. After Thursday’s New York Giants practice, star running back Saquon Barkley and veteran wide receiver Sterling Shepard didn’t rule out the possibility of a game boycott by the team.

“I can’t really just go and speak on behalf of the whole league, but, for us, that is something that we’re going to talk about within our [social justice] groups, within our team,” Barkley told reporters on a Zoom call, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “What’s talked about in players meetings stays in players meetings.”

“That’s something that we’re going to talk about as a team. I’m not going to comment on that until we do so,” Shepard noted.

The Giants’ Week 1 matchup isn’t until Sept. 14 when they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Monday Night Football contest at MetLife Stadium. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the stadium is slated to host zero fans.

While numerous NFL teams have canceled practices in response to the shooting of Blake — a 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times in the back by police — the Giants decided to take the field Wednesday. They did so, however, after a 45-minute delay to discuss social injustice.