The injury bug just keeps getting worse for the New York Giants, as they lost both Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard last Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
Barkley’s injury is much more severe, having torn his ACL and partially his meniscus. Unfortunately, he will require surgery and miss the entire 2020 season. As for Sterling Shepard, the Giants placed him on injured reserve Wednesday morning, which means he cannot return for a minimum of three games.
After getting his foot stuck underneath of him on a tackle attempt against the Bears, Shep came up gimpy and ultimately was unable to return. He was diagnosed with turf toe, which can be a multiple week injury. Essentially, turf toe is the sprain of the main joints in the big toe. It normally occurs when the toe is forcibly bent up into hyperextension, or in Shepard‘s case, when he got his toes stuck on the flat ground. Evidently, it doesn’t have much to do with playing in turf.
The Giants are placing Sterling Shepard on IR with turf toe, he will be out for at least 3 weeks…
Big blow the WR corps.
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) September 23, 2020
Sterling’s injury thins out the wide receiver corps, which will now be led by Darius Slayton and Golden Tate. [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”hi2ggj1w9c” question=”Who do you think should earn more reps? ” opened=”0″]I anticipate CJ Board and Damian Ratley will receive more reps, but it will limit Daniel Jones’s weaponry on an everyday basis.[/wpdiscuz-feedback] I wouldn’t be surprised if Big Blue went out and re-signed either Corey Coleman or Alex Bachman, two players who have a better understanding of the playbook and can contribute if need be.
Luckily, the Giants face off against a severely injured San Francisco 49ers team next week, which is a very winnable game. Hopefully, Shep can return in due time, but his injury concerns only increase, as he missed multiple contests with concussion symptoms last year.