Saquon Barkley injury news: Giants’ star hurts ankle

New York Giants superstar running back Saquon Barkley suffered an ankle injury in Week 3’s road game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Things are certainly going from bad to worse to horrible for the New York Giants this season. They are already 0-2 on the year. New York benched longtime starting quarterback Eli Manning this week in favor of No. 6 overall pick Daniel Jones out of Duke.

In Jones’ first start of the season against the 1-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road, New York is facing a sizeable deficit heading into halftime. To make matters even worse, the Giants might be without their best player in star running back Saquon Barkley.

Barkley, who the Giants drafted No. 2 overall out of Penn State in 2018, has exited this contest with an ankle injury. He remains questionable but needed help getting to the locker room with an obvious limp.

If he can’t play the rest of the game, good luck to the Giants winning this game against an increasingly feisty Buccaneers team. Should Barkley miss any time with the Giants, look for them to continue to look like the worst team in the NFC.

This was not going to be a year where the Giants were going to contend for anything close to a playoff berth. They already benched Manning in favor of Jones, so the youth movement is in full effect. However, a key part of the youth movement was having Barkley serve as Jones’ bell-cow back as he comes along as an NFL passer.

Barkley at the very least makes the Giants watchable. He is a Pro Bowl-level player and a guy that has the potential to be the best back in football if he isn’t already. This was a game versus the Buccaneers that could have been the Giants’ first legitimate opportunity at getting into the win column. Now that looks to be nothing short of a lost cause at this point.

With the Giants already down multiple scores heading into halftime, we probably shouldn’t expect Barkley to be back in there. Head coach Pat Shurmur might be feeling the pressure, but there is no need to jeopardize your future for a potential short-term game in a contest that looks most lost by the second.

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We will have a better understanding of how Barkley’s ankle is doing in the aftermath of this game. If he’s out any significant time, wins will be even harder to come by for the G-Men. You hate to see one of the game’s best players have to exit a game this early in the season.