Cam Skattebo is expected to be full-go for training camp in a couple of weeks, a needed step after an ankle injury cut short what looked like a solid rookie season. For the Giants, it means one of the backs who helped power a top-five running game last year should be back in the mix just as the work begins again.
That matters now because training camp is the next checkpoint, and Skattebo’s availability is no longer the question it was through much of the summer. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, he was limited for much of that stretch before he began working his way back into the rotation and, once healthy, became a more consistent part of it.
The timing also lines up with a change in how the offense wants to run the ball. With John Harbaugh coming in as head coach, Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator and Greg Roman on staff as an assistant with a say in the run game, the Giants are moving toward a gap-based run scheme. That is a different assignment for the backs: instead of reading and sorting through the line on the fly the way they did in the more zone-based approach under Daboll, they are asked to follow a lead blocker to a defined spot and then create from there.
That shift gives Skattebo a clear chance to matter. He was already a big part of the Giants’ ground game before the ankle injury, and he was en route to a solid rookie season when it stopped him. In this new setup, the fit looks cleaner in one sense because the runner is not asked to do as much guessing before the first cut. But the injury still hangs over the picture, because the strongest role in the rotation is only meaningful if he stays healthy long enough to claim it.
Skattebo’s return to full work in a couple of weeks will not settle how the backfield is divided, but it will answer the most immediate question around him. The Giants can build the scheme they want only if one of the players most likely to benefit from it is ready when training camp opens.
