Former Penn State football RB Saquon Barkley suffers notable setback
Former Penn State football running back will go through a bit of a Sophomore Slump due to an unfortunate ankle injury.
Injuries are bound to happen for pretty much every player in the NFL. As they are mostly unavoidable, players take a major risk every time they take the field. New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley knows this fact very well. Therefore, he does everything in his power to avoid taking hits using his ridiculously smooth shiftiness to shake defenders.
However, just because the Penn State football product is good at avoiding contact, doesn’t mean he’s invincible on the field. We’ve seen him suffer some setbacks in college with lower-body injuries before. Now, he’s dealing with his first mishap in the NFL during his second year with the New York Giants.
Year two was a big one for the former Rookie of the Year. Barkley dominated the gridiron in 2018 and quickly became one of the NFL’s top running backs. While nobody was surprised to see him emerge so fast, everybody was pretty shocked to see Barkley manage to stay healthy for all 16 games last season considering the amount of work the Giants offered with little help around him.
His sophomore season in the NFL was highly-anticipated, as expected. Nobody expected any sort of sophomore slump from Barkley, as we know his talent level is elite. However, an unfortunate ankle injury will set him back for potentially up to eight weeks.
Details on the injury
According to an ESPN report, Barkley’s official diagnosis after Sunday’s game was a high-ankle sprain. He was spotted wearing a boot on his foot and was walking around with crutches. The good news is that Barkley won’t have to undergo surgery or anything.
The bad news is that his NFL progress takes a significant hit so early on. The timetable for Barkley’s return is set at four-to-eight weeks. Typically, teams wait a little longer with injuries like this since they don’t want to trot one of their stars out on the field who can only play at three-quarters speed.
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In Barkley’s case, he needs his ankle fully healed before he can get out on the field and be himself. With the way he runs, and the amount of work he takes on, New York can’t afford to risk his health long-term. Therefore, Barkley’s sophomore season suffers a major setback, which is extremely unfortunate for the former Nittany Lion.