Yardbarker
x
Report: Giants' Barkley, McKinney, Skura positive for COVID
Saquon Barkley is among the Giants who tested positive for COVID. Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Report: Giants' Saquon Barkley, Xavier McKinney, Matt Skura test positive for COVID-19

It was learned earlier in the day that New York Giants running backs coach Burton Burns was a confirmed COVID-19 case and that the team could be dealing with a potential widespread coronavirus outbreak ahead of this Sunday's game versus the 5-2 Las Vegas Raiders. 

ESPN's Jordan Raanan reports star running back Saquon Barkley, safety Xavier McKinney and right guard Matt Skura tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. Raanan added that at least Barkley and Skura are vaccinated, and also that it was possible Wednesday's results were false positives. 

Thirteen people associated with the Giants tested positive on Tuesday, but Burns was the only individual who remained unavailable from that initial group following retesting. 

Barkley, meanwhile, missed the past three games with an ankle injury and could be kept out of Sunday's clash even if he's cleared, largely because New York is 2-6 and enters its bye week after the Raiders game. 

"It's a 2020-2021 NFL season," Giants safety Logan Ryan said of this latest setback during what's becoming another lost campaign for Big Blue. "It's nothing new. We wear tracers every day, get COVID tested, so stuff like this comes up. Obviously, results have got to come back. I'm not going to speak too much on it, but we obviously had experience with this last season. It's been a different type of football these last couple years. We've got to be able to adjust on the fly, so we're well-trained and versed in that. Whatever it has to be, we'll do whatever it is to keep everyone safe." 

Vaccinated players can return to team activities if they remain asymptomatic and produce two negative virus tests 24 hours apart. Any unvaccinated Giants player confirmed to have tested positive will not clear protocols in time to face the Raiders. 

More must-reads:

Customize Your Newsletter

+

Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.