Giants RB Saquon Barkley 'good,' expected to play vs. Washington

Fans of the New York Giants were hoping star running back Saquon Barkley would look like the player of old in his return from the torn ACL he suffered last September. Instead, what they got was a version of Barkley who gained only 26 yards on 10 carries and, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, played in 48% of New York's offensive snaps during Sunday's season-opening loss to the Denver Broncos. 

According to Ed Valentine of Big Blue View, Giants head coach Joe Judge said Monday that he expects Barkley will play in Thursday's matchup at the Washington Football Team. 

"I thought he responded well. He came out of the game good for us," Judge said of Barkley. "I didn’t see any setbacks.

"Unless the medical team tells us something else our intention is going to be to keep on progressing this guy throughout the season ... our plan at this point would be to go ahead and put him in the game plan." 

Judge and company were extremely cautious with Barkley's recovery throughout the spring and summer months, to the point that some fans wondered if the 24-year-old endured some sort of unreported setback. Considering the Giants play again Thursday, logic suggests Barkley's workload could remain diminished through another four quarters of action.