Stewart (foot) returned to practice Thursday, opening a 21-day window for the Giants to evaluate him for a return to the 53-man roster.
The Giants placed Stewart on IR back on Sept. 28 after he failed to demonstrate much progress from a lingering foot injury. Shortly after the Giants dropped the veteran running back from the roster, coach Pat Shurmur clarified that Stewart would require about eight weeks to recover from the injury. Assuming that timeline is still accurate, Stewart would be eligible to return from IR as soon as the Giants' Nov. 25 contest against the Eagles. If activated, Stewart would likely handle only a limited role behind rookie Saquon Barkley, who has proven highly capable of handling a three-down workload out of the backfield.