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Kyler Fackrell could return to the game field this week. The New York Giants edge rusher has missed three matchups with a calf injury.

According to Jordan Raanan of ESPN, the New York Giants have designated edge rusher Kyler Fackrell to return to practice. The fifth-year pro missed the last three games after a calf injury landed him on injured reserve.

Per the rules regarding injured reserve placements, the Giants now possess a 21-day window to officially activate him. Of course, that timeframe would shrink if the Giants are eliminated from postseason contention — their final regular-season game is 11 days from Wednesday.

When healthy, Fackrell has undergone a pretty productive inaugural season in East Rutherford, having racked up three sacks and nine quarterback hits along with a 46-yard pick-six recorded in the Week 5 loss to Dallas.

Returning Fackrell would be a significant benefit to a Giants defense that’s been lacking in the pass-rushing department the last two weeks. After sacking Russell Wilson five times in the absence of Fackrell during their Week 13 victory out in Seattle, the Giants recorded just one sack in each of the losses to Arizona and Cleveland.

The pass rush is certainly improved from last year and needs to be consistently utilized in order to take the pressure off the secondary, and with Fackrell, the Giants could work towards making that gameplan come to fruition once again.

If Fackrell returns to the field, he’ll be all that’s left from the top four edge rushers the active roster possessed at the commencement of the season. Lorenzo Carter is done for the year with an Achilles injury and so is Oshane Ximines with a shoulder injury. Markus Golden, on the other hand, was sent to the Cardinals as part of a pre-deadline trade back in October.

Ryan Honey is a staff writer and host of the Wide Right Podcast.