What It Means:

Barkley has had one of the more unlucky injury seasons in recent memory, spending the early weeks of the season working his way back from last year's torn ACL, only to suffer a sprained ankle on a freak accident after a play had been blown dead. Judge added that Barkley "lost time" because of the team's strange false-positive COVID-19 test situation, implying that Barkley could have returned in Week 9 if needed. He seems to be trending towards a healthy return in Week 11.

Barkley flashed his insane upside in his 3 healthy starts so far this season, averaging 14 carries, 4.3 receptions, and 96.3 scrimmage yards per contest in those games, adding 3 scores to boot. If he does return for the Giants' Week 11 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he'll likely project as one of the top running backs on the slate.