Things have gone from bad to worse for NY Giants safety Xavier McKinney. In case you missed it, he suffered a serious hand injury last week during the bye while riding an ATV over in Mexico. He was then placed on the Non-Football Injury list, meaning that he’ll be out for at least the next four games.
However, the G-Men and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale could be without the standout defensive back for much longer than that. When asked if McKinney will be able to get back out on the field this campaign, head coach Brian Daboll didn’t give an answer that’s going to provide people with a ton of hope.
Brian Daboll said “we’ll see,” regarding Xavier McKinney returning this season, per @giantswfan
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) November 8, 2022
That’s NOT what you want to hear…
NY Giants safety Xavier McKinney could miss the rest of the season due to his ATV accident
The fact that Daboll said ‘we’ll see’ for McKinney returning this campaign is worrisome. This almost tells us that the first-year head coach isn’t overly optimistic that his stud safety will get himself back on the field. Following the incident in Cabo, McKinney said he broke multiple fingers and that he’s already undergone surgery.
McKinney met with the media on Tuesday afternoon and clearly felt bad about the situation. He said that he took full responsibility for what happened. You could 100 percent tell that he knows he not only let Daboll and Joe Schoen down, but he also let all of his teammates down too.
Xavier McKinney was not aware that he violated his contract in riding an ATV.
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) November 8, 2022
He says the Giants were more concerned about his well-being than any contractual violations in their conversations: pic.twitter.com/Y8HXfgBLm8
At the end of the day, McKinney made a mistake and he has to deal with the consequences. With the G-Men at 6-2 on the year, they’ve got a great chance to improve to 7-2 this weekend going up against the Houston Texans. They’ll have to try and take down the AFC South side without McKinney on the field.
This may be something the Giants will have to get used to for the rest of the fall and winter. Not having McKinney available for the rest of ’22 would be a big-time blow and it’s something that would be tough to accept. Others in the secondary will have to step up with McKinney sidelined, and he’ll have to fill in as a vocal leader while he’s out of action.
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