New York Giants News

Giants news, 11/10: Xavier McKinney nearing return to practice

Will Hernandez also expected back this week for Giants

By Ed Valentine@Valentine_Ed Nov 10, 2020, 6:02am EST

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

NFL: New York Giants-Training Camp — Xavier McKinney

McKinney, others close to returning

Rookie safety Xavier McKinney, the second-round pick who has missed the entire season with a fractured foot, could return to practice soon.

“That’s still up in the air. I don’t know if we will necessarily see him this week. He was on the field the other day running with the trainers. I haven’t had much of a chance with my own eyes to really get my eyes on him. I know he’s making a lot of progress. I’m getting positive reports on him,” coach Joe Judge said. “We have until Wednesday. He’ll be with the trainers tomorrow, that may shed a little bit more light on it for us. Based on how we practice Wednesday, if we go full tilt or some kind of an abbreviated walk thru, or short fundamentals practice, we haven’t decided yet. That may affect whether or not we start his clock on that day or not.”

Whether the Giants start the 21-day clock to activate McKinney this week or not, it sounds like they expect him to get on the field at least a little bit before the season is over.

Judge also had updates on Oshane Ximines (shoulder) and Tae Crowder (hamstring).

“With Oshane and Tae, they are very similar to X-man (McKinney). We have to figure out where they’re at physically and when do we want to start their clock. All of them have made a lot of progress. Some are a little bit closer than others. I want to see where they’re at,’ Judge said. “The biggest thing I’d say at this point is because you have the bye week coming up next week, we want to be very calculated when we start their clock, that 21-day window. If you start it too early and then you lose another week with the bye week anyway, it may set them back. There’s a benefit of getting them going with us right away, getting their legs back under them, get them back playing football. There’s also a benefit of holding a little bit knowing you have the bye week next week and there’s really no advantage to getting them to a game next week anyway. There’s a couple different avenues we can take with these guys.”

Will Hernandez ramping up

After missing two games due to contracting the COVID-19 virus, starting guard Will Hernandez is nearing a return to the active roster.

“The one thing I want to make sure is we are fair with with Will is this guy has missed two games, that’s a lot of football he’s missed. We have to be fair to him to get him his conditioning back and get him back on the field moving around. It’s not like this guy has spent the last two weeks lifting weights and running, doing individual drills in his back yard. This guy has been quarantined and fighting a virus,” Judge said. “We have to make sure when we get him back, we give him a chance that he’s able to get out there and play a full 60 minutes healthy. Also, make sure he gets some reps on the field to account for some of that lost time and kind of sharpen him back up.”