If you were unlucky enough to see New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo’s season-ending lower leg injury in 2025, you can be forgiven for assuming he might not be playing football as the 2026 season approaches.
It was just that gruesome.
Skattebo, to use 1 of the most worn-out football cliches, might just be built different. All signs point to him being on the field for the regular-season opener, and Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport thinks that could make him 1 of the NFL’s great bargains in 2026 as he heads into the 2nd season of a 4-year, $5.27 million rookie contract.
“Cam Skattebo burst onto the scene as a rookie last year—over a month-long stretch as the Giants‘ lead back, the rookie out of Arizona State ranked eighth among running backs in PPR points,” Davenport wrote. “A fractured tibia and dislocated ankle ended Skattebo’s rookie season, but all indications are that he will be ready to go for the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys at Met Life Stadium. The Giants have quietly assembled one of the better offensive lines in the game—a line that should be even better with the addition of rookie guard Francis Mauigoa. The uncertain status of wide receiver Malik Nabers for Week 1 could lead the G-Men to lean more heavily on the run early in the season. If Skattebo is 100 percent at or close to the start of the season, he could match last year’s production.”
Skattebo had 617 yards from scrimmage and 7 total touchdowns in just 9 games before his injury.
Giants Seem Optimistic on Nabers & Skattebo
The Giants seem convinced Nabers and Skattebo will bounce back from devastating injuries in 2025 to help pull them off the NFL’s scrapheap in 2026.
It will take much more convincing for the rest of the NFL to believe that, and Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon recently pointed out that Nabers and Skattebo coming back from their injuries — or more importantly, when they come back — could represent an NFL power shift and “deeply impact how the upcoming season plays out.”
Nabers, who set the franchise single-season record with 109 receptions in 2024, tore his ACL and meniscus after just 4 games in 2025.
Skattebo, a 2025 4th-round pick, was 1 of the NFL’s great early-season surprises as a rookie with 617 yards of total offense and 7 touchdowns before he suffered a gruesome, dislocated right ankle against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8.
“Nabers’ status remains up in the air for training camp, but Giants general manager Joe Schoen said that he remains optimistic the third-year former first-round pick can return by Week 1,” Gagnon wrote on July 1. “Nabers has hardly worked at all with Jaxson Dart, and the idea is that those two are the future of this franchise. If the team is going to take a major step forward in 2026, it needs a relatively full and productive campaign from a guy who went over 1,200 yards as a rookie in 2024 … Skattebo was a force for a small stretch in his rookie campaign, and he, Jaxson Dart and Malik Nabers could become something special together as part of this young Giants offense.”
Cam Skattebo Looks on Track to Play in Week 1
Like Nabers, Skattebo didn’t see the Giants add anyone significant at his position in the offseason. In this case, the Giants didn’t even draft a running back.
The bigger issue for Skattebo, who participated in 11-on-11 drills in mandatory minicamp, looks to be the same as it was during his rookie season — competing with the other talented running backs on the roster.
While Skattebo pencils in as the starter, a healthy Tyrone Tracy is waiting in the wings after consecutive seasons with over 1,000 yards of total offense in 2024 and 2025. There’s also Devin Singletary, who rushed for over 800 yards in consecutive seasons in 2022 and 2023 and has rushed for exactly 437 yards in each of the last 2 seasons for the Giants.
Giants Get Good News on RB Cam Skattebo’s Injury Timeline