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Saquon Barkley Injury Update Could See Top Fantasy RB Back on Field Sooner Than Expected

By Jason Schandl

New York Giants v Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New York Giants v Tampa Bay Buccaneers / Michael Reaves/Getty Images
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Saquon Barkley may not be entirely human, and it looks like he's going to be back in action a lot sooner than originally expected.

It managed to get overshadowed a bit by the exciting debut of Daniel Jones, but the New York Giants' star running back suffered what seemed like a fairly serious high-ankle sprain in Week 3, leaving Wayne Gallman to take over as the team's lead back.

Gallman's time as a starter could be coming to an end quickly though, with Barkley already looking surprisingly healthy on Thursday.

Gallman proved to be a valuable handcuff in Week 4, rewarding fantasy owners with over 100 total yards and a pair of touchdowns, but his value returns to zero with Barkley back in action. He had only 10 touches and 54 yards across his first three games of the season.

A healthy Barkley will also immediately reclaim his status as one of the most valuable running backs in fantasy football. The top-scoring RB in 2018, Barkley opened 2019 with 40.4 PPR points on 42 opportunities (29 carries and 13 targets) in his first two games.

His value could be going even higher now too, with Danny Dimes looking like a definitive upgrade over Eli Manning at the QB position.

While Barkley hasn't officially been ruled out for Week 5's game against the Minnesota Vikings, he still can't be considered more than a long shot to return this week.

Even so, this update is optimistic enough that there's a chance he manages to suit up in Week 6, when the Giants will play the New England Patriots.

That will immediately return the fantasy value in the Giants' backfield to where it was before the injury — with Barkley as king and Gallman nothing more than a handcuff.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.