The New York Giants are dealing with a number of injuries right now, and it’s unclear which players are in a position to return for the final preseason game. We do know, however, that two anticipated returns won’t happen in this game after Joe Judge ruled out the possibility already.
Those players are Saquon Barkley and tight end Kyle Rudolph, both of whom have mounting pressure to play in week 1. Judge confirmed on Friday that neither player will take the field against New England.
“He will not play in this game, no. We’ll dress him out. He’ll go through warm up. We’ll continue him on through ramping up. He won’t play. Him or Rudolph won’t play in this game,” Judge told reporters when asked about Barkley.
But more encouragingly, Judge also claimed that the Giants are still making decisions on some players.
Some decisions are still being made
“The other players – there’s a lot of guys where there’s still decisions being made. We’ll see how they come out today and even some tomorrow. We’ll see how they’re going to look for the game. So, I can’t give any final answers on a lot of guys,” Judge said.
The list of injuries includes three wide receivers – John Ross, Kadarius Toney, and Kenny Golladay.
With Toney being the team’s first round draft pick and Golladay being their biggest free agent signing, this has caused some reasonable concern that Daniel Jones won’t get a chance to build chemistry with his most important targets in a game situation before week 1.
But as the Giants generally rested their starters for the first couple of preseason games, it’s clear the staff aren’t prioritizing preseason experience for their key players.
We know Jones will play one half in the final game, but as of now, it remains to be seen if his new weapons will be there on the field with him.