Saquon Barkley not putting timetable on his return

[Giant]

Getty Images

Saquon Barkley might or might not be ready for the season opener. He isn’t putting a timetable on his return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament as the Giants take his recovery slowly.

The running back said he is taking it “day by day.”

“It’s going to be whenever my body tells me I’m ready,” Barkley said in his first press conference since last season, via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY. “Whenever I’m able to show everyone I’m ready again, that’s when I’ll be able to go out there.”

Barkley played all 16 games as a rookie. He has played 15 games in the two seasons since.

The Giants need him, but they need him at 100 percent as he works his way back from his October surgery. Barkley offered only that his rehab is going “pretty well.”

“It’s tough, because it’s getting closer and closer,” Barkley said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to continue to stay patient. When the sport you love is taken away from you, you want to be back as fast as you can, obviously. But I’m going to come back to do the best I can for my team, not just for the short span, but for a long time.”