Giants rookie Tyrone Tracy returns to practice after scary injury
Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. is carted off the field during training camp in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 13. Credit: Ed Murray
A week ago, Giants rookie running back Tyrone Tracy thought the worst.
He was injured on a muffed kickoff return in practice and went down untouched, grabbing his right ankle and in considerable pain.
He was carted from the field in an air cast.
Based on his reaction, if his season had ended on that play, it wouldn’t have been a surprise. Tracy was taken to the hospital.
“They checked out my foot and everything. And, actually, a little bit later that day, it was feeling way better than what it was earlier,” Tracy said. “Because when it initially happened, it was very scary. I didn't know what was going on because they put the air cast on. So, I didn't know if it was broken or not. A lot of stuff was going on. It was definitely scary. But a little bit later that day, I was feeling way better.”
His rookie season didn’t end in that moment. Tracy was back on the practice field Tuesday.
“The best thing that happened was, I only had very little damage to my ankle,” Tracy said. “I'm really just happy to be back out here on the football field. Like I said, it was very scary. The medical staff did a great job of making sure that I'm recovering. And I'm in there daily making sure that I'm doing my treatments and making sure that I'm doing everything I can to come back 100% healthy.”
Tracy could be an intriguing player for the Giants. In four years at Iowa, he was a middling receiver who was unlikely to be drafted. He transferred to Purdue for his last two years of eligibility, where he also saw action out of the backfield. Tracy carried the ball 113 times for 716 yards (6.3 yards per carry) with eight touchdowns last season. He also caught 19 passes for 132 yards. He played in the East-West Shrine game and was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.
At the combine in Indianapolis, Giants’ running backs coach Joel Thomas was among the coaches working on the field. Tracy got Thomas’ attention. The Giants ended up selecting Tracy in the draft to help fill out their backfield.
“Definitive is the word to describe [Tracy],” Thomas said recently. “That’s the goal for all of us right now. I want all of us to have the ability to play fast and let it fly.”
After Tuesday’s practice, Tracy said he was ready to do that.
“Today was kind of like a test to see how good I was,” he said. “I didn't get really many reps. But they wanted to see me move, wanted to see how well I was moving. And me personally, I think I did fairly well.”
Notes & quotes: Backup QB Drew Lock (hip) returned to practice. He was injured vs. the Lions in the first preseason game… Assistant GM Brandon Brown was available to reporters Tuesday. Asked about tackle Evan Neal’s health, Brown said: “I just think with Evan, he's working to get healthy right now and I appreciate his mindset right now. He wants to do whatever's best for the team, and I have faith in him. We're not losing any faith in Evan. I think him stringing together good days of practice, going into a joint practice [Wednesday] with the Jets, and then having that last preseason game, it's all going to be really a springboard for him to get back on the track that he wants to be on. … Asked if he was surprised to see 6-0, 278-pound DT Eli Chatman chase down RB J.J. Taylor of the Texans on a sweep play last Saturday, Brown said he was not. “No, no. The effort and the want to, we see that every day. And there's a cool transition when you start seeing teammates root for guys. When you start seeing [defensive lineman] Dex [Lawrence] rooting for Elijah, taking him to the side, giving him some pointers because it's like, ‘Hey, I could be playing with this guy.’ or ‘There's something here that I like that I want to help develop.’ So, it's been really cool to see.”
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
