Saquon Barkley is making progress, just not enough of it to play on Sunday.
The Giants’ star running back, who less than two weeks ago suffered a high ankle sprain and was expected to miss at least a month, was an active participant in practice on Friday, even receiving some reps. But he was ruled out of the contest against the Vikings.
“I’m encouraged because he’s going through his rehab process and he’s making an effort to come back quickly,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said. “I think he’s making good progress, and when he’s ready to play, we’ll put him out there.”
Shurmur, however, didn’t give any indication how much longer Barkley will be out.
“I understand everybody’s interested in the situation. You got to see him moving around out here with your own eyes,” he said. “But we decided that he’s not playing this week.”
Wayne Gallman produced 118 yards of total offense and two touchdowns in Barkley’s place last week in a win over the Redskins and will remain the starter until Barkley is ready to return. Gallman was limited because of a neck injury Wednesday and Thursday, but practiced fully on Friday.
Linebacker Lorenzo Carter (neck) was limited all week and is questionable. Earlier in the week, Shurmur played down the injury as “game soreness.” He expects Carter to play.
“We’re not concerned,” Shurmur said. “When they play games, each guy, every once in a while, has some things happen to him. He’s progressed well. We’ll just have to see how much he can do.”
On Wednesday, Vikings receiver Stefon Diggs missed practice for “non-injury related reasons,” fueling trade speculation. He was back Thursday and told reporters, when asked if he was looking to be traded, “There’s truth to all rumors.” And on Friday, coach Mike Zimmer was very cryptic about how much Diggs will play on Sunday.
“I don’t know,” Zimmer said when asked about Diggs’ availability. “We’ll see.”
Giants offensive line coach Hal Hunter gave Will Hernandez high marks, raving about the left guard’s focus and attention to detail four games into his second season.
“I think the biggest difference in his play is he’s slowed down a little bit mentally, and that’s a good thing,” Hunter said. “I think when you play as a young player, sometimes the game speeds up on you. Things are happening so fast. I think he plays fast physically and he’s slow and calm mentally. … He has no mental errors this year because he understands the system. He understands the speed of the game and he’s adjusted to the speed of the game.”
