Wednesday brought a lot of bad news in the sports world, ranging from New York Giants safety Xavier McKinney’s fractured foot to the New York Yankees being tortured by the Atlanta Braves in a doubleheader. There wasn’t much positive news to spread, but the Giants might have received some good news with linebacker David Mayo.
The NFL regular season starts in about three weeks, September 14, specifically for the Giants. On Wednesday, McKinney was diagnosed with a fractured foot and underwent surgery. However, it will keep them out for at least 12-14 weeks of the regular season and potentially the entire campaign. This will set him back significantly in his development and could be a lingering issue down the road.
In a more positive light, a fracture can oftentimes be better than ligament damage. Bone can heal 100% while ligaments never return to the same strength. Nonetheless, second-year player Julian Love will likely become an immediate starter at free safety to replace McKinney.
Mayo, who will undergo a meniscus trim, could return for week two of the regular season, given he has enough practice reps and feels comfortable. Otherwise, the Giants might move forward with players currently on the roster. That would give options like Devante Downs and potentially Ryan Connelly all of the reps to start the year. The top middle linebacker will undoubtedly be Blake Martinez, who signed a three-year contract with the Giants this off-season.
For #Giants LB David Mayo, the expectation going into surgery is that it’ll be a meniscus trim, source said, rather than the full repair. That could put him back on the field in 3 weeks or so. https://t.co/k6dw2KzLMP
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 26, 2020
According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, the hope is that McKinney will be back after the bye week, which is approximately three months after surgery. That would put McKinney in the running to return after the Giants week 12 by week. That is the best-case scenario and if everything goes well with the surgery and his rehabilitation.
Despite these injuries, head coach Joe Judge indicated that he will move forward with the players he has available, and his only concern is that everyone continues to work hard and progress as a team.
“Xavier is a guy for us who’s making a tremendous amount of improvement,” coach Joe Judge said. “Look, we’re still looking forward to getting him back out there on the field. I’m not a doctor, I don’t have that timetable. I’m going to let those guys handle that. My only concern at this point is that he continues to work as hard as he can to get back on the field, and that we continue to develop him as a coaching staff, mentally, that he makes progress within the situational awareness and overall understanding of our schemes and the league tendencies in his time off the field.”
It is important to be aware of the rebuild currently underway, and the Giants still have a long way to go before they can be a competitive team in the NFL