Saquon Barkley, Andrew Thomas OUT for Giants' Week 3 Game vs. 49ers
The New York Giants will be without running back Saquon Barkley (ankle) and left tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring) when they visit the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football.
Barkly injured his ankle in the closing seconds of last week's 31-28 Giants win over the Arizona Cardinals. Tests showed that he managed to avoid the more serious high ankle sprain, and reports attached a three-week time frame to his status for when he might next be on the field.
Head coach Brian Daboll raised a few eyebrows on Tuesday by revealing to reporters that Barkley felt better and that they could take a decision about his game status for this week right up until game day.
That projection was never really realistic, despite any progress Barkley may have made with his treatment, starting with the four-day turnaround time between games. In the end, the team wisely decided to take advantage of the 11 days before their next game to let all their injured players heal, Barkley included.
There is an outside chance that Barkley, who was projected as a non-practice participant this week by the team (the Giants held walkthroughs, so they had to project the practice participation statuses of their injured players), could be ready for the team's October 2 home game against the Seattle Seahawks, but that all depends on how his rehab goes over the next few days.
The decision to hold out Thomas also falls along the line of the team taking advantage of the 11-day break between games. Last week, second-year player Joshua Ezeudu played in Thomas's place and held up well. He'll have a harder test this week against the 49ers' defense, but the Giants can do things with the protection to help him if needed.
Thomas was projected as a limited participant this week in practice.
Also declared out by the Giants are offensive lineman Ben Bredeson and linebacker Azeez Ojulari.
Bredeson, the team's starting left guard, is in the league's protocol after suffering a concussion in the win over the Cardinals.
Ojulari will miss his second straight game with a hamstring strain that occurred in practice leading up to the Week 2 game vs. the Cardinals.
Bredeson was projected as a non-participant in practice, while Ojulari was projected to be limited.
Rounding out the Giants injury report, the team listed inside linebacker Micah McFadden (neck) and receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (knee) as questionable for Thursday night.
McFadden should be good to go. The questionable designation for Robinson, who continues to ramp up from spending the summer on the PUP list while rehabbing a torn ACL, is encouraging after he was listed as DOUBTFUL leading up to Week 2.
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