Giants-49ers injury report: Brian Daboll not ruling Saquon Barkley out for Thursday

Daboll says running back has made ‘considerable progress’

Odds are it is just gamesmanship, but New York Giants coach Brian Daboll on Tuesday refused to rule star running back Saquon Barkley out for Thursday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. Reports are that Barkley is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with an ankle sprain suffered Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

Daboll said that Barkley has made “considerable progress” since being injured late in Sunday’s game.

“With every injury, until you’re with the player (and) you see the player, I don’t know — you might heal a little bit different than I heal, I might heal a little bit different than another player heals,” Daboll said. “Saquon is a lot better than maybe I thought he would be or some other people thought he would be today. He might heal a little bit different than another player, if you will. So we’ll just take it day to day with him. And if he can make it, great. If he can’t, we’ll see if he can get better by the following week and we’ll just take it one day at a time.”

It would be stunning if Barkley played just four days after suffering the third ankle injury and fourth leg injury of his NFL career. Most likely, Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell and Eric Gray will have to carry the running load for the Giants.

Daboll also said that left tackle Andrew Thomas and edge defender Azeez Ojulari, both held out of the Week 2 game against Arizona with hamstring injuries, would be game-time decisions on Thursday. Guard Ben Bredeson, who suffered a concussion Sunday, likely won’t clear the league’s protocol in time to play.