Giants' Xavier McKinney wasn't 'reckless' during ATV incident

New York Giants safety Xavier McKinney has addressed his ATV accident that will cost him at least a month of action. 

"It was an unfortunate event," McKinney said of the incident, as shared by Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk. "I got into a Can-Am [off-road vehicle] accident. It kind of just basically just flipped over, not flipped over but tilted over. Fell on my hand. That’s basically what happened." 

McKinney confirmed on Monday he injured his left hand in an ATV accident that occurred in Cabo when the 6-2 Giants were on their bye week. Per Jordan Raanan of ESPN, the 24-year-old was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list after he underwent surgery on his hand. He must miss a minimum of four games starting with this Sunday's home contest against the 1-6-1 Houston Texans. 

"We were on a sightseeing tour. That’s what I can tell you," McKinney added during his comments. "It was nothing that was reckless. This was just simply being able to be out in the country, seeing what it looked like. It was an unfortunate event that happened." 

McKinney offered no timetable for his recovery. He won't be eligible to return to the active roster until the Week 14 game against the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 11. 

Up through Week 8, McKinney played every snap this season and served as the club's defensive signal-caller. Those duties will now go to fellow safety Julian Love. Per ESPN stats, McKinney is fourth on the Giants with 38 tackles and also has contributed a sack, two tackles for loss and four pass breakups. 

"I heard that [about the accident] a few days ago," first-year Giants head coach Brian Daboll told reporters on Tuesday, according to Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "I feel bad for Xavier. Disappointed that he got injured. And he’ll do everything he can do to get back and be ready to go." 

Daboll declined to say if he is "disappointed" McKinney participated in a risky form of recreation during the season. 

"I’m just going to stick with what I said," Daboll remarked. "I feel bad for him. I feel bad for us. I know he’s disappointed. But we can’t do anything about that now. I think we’re all disappointed in what happened. It’s an unfortunate thing that happened. Certainly not something you want to see." 

Per NFL rules, the Giants could decide not to pay McKinney while he's on the reserve/non-football injury list. It's unclear what the organization plans to do regarding McKinney's salary over the next month, during which he's set to make a total of $305,068.