Even a “quick healer” like Saquon Barkley couldn’t make it back from a high ankle sprain in 15 days.

Barkley was inactive for the Giants on Monday night against the Seahawks despite limited participation in the final three practices of the week.

He was listed as doubtful on Saturday’s injury report but arrived at MetLife Stadium with the possibility of talking himself into the lineup.

Instead, Barkley never appeared on the field with teammates during pregame warm-ups.

He was spotted on the sideline in street clothes about 90 minutes before kickoff.

The Giants entered Monday’s game with a 9-14 record over six seasons when Barkley does not play, including last week’s loss to the 49ers.

But the first time that second-year head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka had to plan for a meaningful game without Barkley the offense became one-dimensional, with the second-lowest number of carries in a game (11) for the run-oriented franchise in the Super Bowl era.

Just like against the 49ers, Matt Breida started in place of Barkley against the Seahawks. Gary Brightwell and rookie Eric Gray offered depth.

“When you are a top-five running back in the league, of course you are going to be missed,” running backs coach Jeff Nixon said. “But we have complete confidence in those other guys. They prepare well, and they are expected to go out and help us win games.”

For Barkley, his third career ankle sprain — which happened in the fourth quarter against the Cardinals on Sept. 17 — coming in a contract walk-year is a no-win situation when it comes to securing his future.

Missing games saves his body against a heavy workload but adds to his injury-prone reputation.

Forcing his way into the lineup shows that he is a team-first player and decreases durability concerns, but any poor games at less than 100 percent healthy could be used to say he has lost a step or that his cumulative number of touches is taking its toll.

“I’ve missed enough games in my career, so I would love to play anytime I can,” Barkley said Saturday. “It’s a tough injury to battle through, but whenever that is, I just would love to be out there because I love the game of football and that’s the only thing that matters.”

The Giants have a quick turnaround to Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.

Barkley missed four games with a high ankle sprain in 2021 and was slow to regain top form in his return, but that was when he was coming off a torn ACL in 2020, too.

“Whenever I’m able to protect myself, protect the ball, and protect the quarterback, I’ll be ready to go,” Barkley said. “The big thing is running and putting your body weight on it and trying to move at a high level and competitive speed, and then come out and go to sleep and see how you feel the next day.”