Giants' Saquon Barkley Won't Play vs. 49ers with Ankle Injury

Saquon Barkley is among four New York Giants players who will not take the field for Thursday night's game against the San Francisco 49ers.

New York ruled out Barkley (ankle), offensive lineman Ben Bredeson (concussion), linebacker Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) and left tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring).

This comes after ESPN's Jeremy Fowler previously reported the star running back "likely" wouldn't play because of the injury.

"But here's why the Giants are optimistic about his overall outlook: They were able to determine pretty early Sunday he did not suffer a high ankle sprain, which an MRI confirmed," Fowler reported. "And he was walking on the injury after the game that night. By Monday, he had less trouble walking."

Head coach Brian Daboll declined to officially rule Barkley out when speaking to reporters Tuesday.

"I'm not saying that he's out yet," Daboll said. "He's a quick healer. I'm not saying he's in, he's out. We're gonna take it all the way up with him to Thursday."

Barkley suffered an "ordinary" ankle sprain in a Week 2 comeback victory over the Arizona Cardinals that was expected to sideline him for three weeks, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Monday.

Barkley has played a major role in the New York offense since being drafted in 2018, and he has put together a solid 2023 campaign thus far, rushing for 114 yards and one touchdown in two games, in addition to catching nine passes for 41 yards and a score.

Given Barkley's history, any injury to the star ball-carrier is cause for concern, even more so because the Giants don't have much depth behind him in Matt Breida and Gary Brightwell.

The Giants are the only team in the NFC East that didn't start 2-0, and they'll need Barkley fully healthy for the vast majority of the long season to compete for the division crown.