NFL Week 5 Injury Roundup: Sam Darnold And Saquon Barkley Out, Josh Allen Still In Concussion Protocol
The NFL injury roundup for Week 5 will see a number of big name players remaining on the sideline, and a question mark for one potentially concussed quarterback.
It’s been a difficult first quarter of the season for some top players, with several teams losing their starting quarterbacks for long stretches (including Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees) and others dealing with lingering issues.
Heading into Week 5, there is already some clarity about who will be in and who will be out.
Saquon Barkley remains out
The New York Giants announced on Friday that running back Saquon Barkley will remain out after suffering a high-ankle sprain in Week 3. As Pro Football Talk reported, Giants head coach Pat Shurmur had hinted that Barkley could be back after just one week on the sidelines, pushing back against estimates that he could miss as many as eight weeks.
But Barkley will miss at least this week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, leaving backup Jon Hilliman in the starting spot. But as the report noted, there are signs that Barkley could be back soon.
“Videos from Giants workouts show him running and changing direction without any apparent difficulty and Barkley has maintained that he’ll beat predictions about how long he’s going to be out of action,” the report noted.
After Sunday, the Giants will be back in action after just a few days, playing the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football in Week 6, so Barkley may be back soon if his rehab continues on at the same pace.
.@saquon is not human pic.twitter.com/W2t8JDf8lD
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) October 3, 2019
Sam Darnold to sit again
New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold still needs more time to recover from his bout with mono, the team announced on Friday.
Darnold has been out since after Week 2, when the team announced that he was suffering a bout with mononucleosis. Though Darnold had said on Thursday that he felt “good to go” for the team’s Week 5 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, head coach Adam Gase said tests showed that Darnold still needed more time to recover.
“The labs didn’t come back the way we were hoping,” Gase said. “I know Sam is disappointed, but we’ll be able to adjust and work quickly.”
Josh Allen still in concussion protocol
The fate of Darnold’s AFC East counterpart remains up in the air, with Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott saying on Friday that Josh Allen remains in concussion protocol after a hit from Patriots defender Jonathan Jones knocked him out of Sunday’s game.
Bills’ HC Sean McDermott said QB Josh Allen remains in concussion protocol.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 4, 2019
There is still a strong chance that Allen could play on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, as the Bills have not signed another quarterback and the team has until Saturday to announce whether Allen has cleared the league-mandated concussion protocol, but it means that a final decision on his status will have to wait at least one more day.
