Saquon Barkley says he is always available to give advice to teammate Wan’Dale Robinson in the receiver’s first season back from ACL surgery.
Robinson has his most receiving yards of the season — 79 on six receptions, including a career-long 37-yard grab — in the Giants’ win Monday night against the Packers.
He appears to be regaining his full form in the second half of the season after undergoing knee surgery in December of last year.
“That was the first thing I had said to him after his big play, his big catch, that I know,” Barkley said Thursday. “It’s tough. I’ve dealt with that injury, obviously. I’ve been trying to give the best advice I can to him.
“He’s been asking me a lot of questions, especially during the season. … You can see it’s starting to come back, and he’s only going to continue to improve. He’s only gonna get better, even after this season into next season. He’s a playmaker for us, and we gotta continue to find ways to get him the ball and put him in space.”
Barkley suffered a torn ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season, and he rushed for just 593 yards in 13 games the following year before rebounding with a 1,312-yard campaign in 2022.
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka on Tommy DeVito’s 71 rushing yards against Green Bay: “We’ve kind of always had that element of the quarterback run game. You saw it with Daniel [Jones], you saw it with Tyrod [Taylor], and now Tommy’s had a couple snaps of that as well, so it’s part of what we have on offense on a given week. Some weeks we like it a lot, some weeks we don’t. It just kind of goes back to each week.”
TE Darren Waller (hamstring) had his 21-day window to return from the injured list activated, and he was a limited participant in practice with a chance to play Sunday.
RT Evan Neal (ankle) also was among those listed as limited. WR Parris Campbell (knee) and LB Azeez Ojulari (shoulder) were full participants.
Barkley said he wasn’t concerned about a concussion after his head was slammed into the ground in Monday’s first quarter: “It was a good hit, but I came to the sideline and shook it off,” he said.