Harbaugh calls Skattebo a ‘top tier’ back

It has always seemed likely that Skattebo will be ready for training camp, plus or minus an off-day here or there to help with recovery, but this pretty much guarantees it. Skattebo escaped the offseason as a big fantasy football winner since the Giants didn’t add a real competitor for the starting job. It remains to be seen if he can hold off Tyrone Tracy for a full-time role, but he should at least start the year as the lead of a committee.

In an 11-second video posted to X by ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, Skattebo can be seen running a route down the left sideline before hauling in a long pass. The second-year running back is working his way back from a fractured ankle he suffered in Week 8 of last season, and looked to be running at or close to full speed in the clip. Speaking last month, Skattebo said he expects to be healthy for Week 1, and he appears to be trending in that direction. We’ll get a better sense of his availability when training camp starts, but if Skattebo can avoid the PUP list at the start of camp, we can safely assume he’ll be all systems go, barring any setbacks. Skattebo projects as an RB2 in what is expected to be a run-heavy offense in John Harbaugh’s first season.

Others reported seeing Skattebo sporting a jersey and helmet, talking to OC Matt Nagy and working with trainers. Stapleton’s phrasing sort of makes it sound like Skattebo literally snuck off and took a few reps. Either way, he seems to have made it through today’s organized team activities session just fine. This is the first time reporters have seen Skattebo suited up for practice since he suffered his season-ending injury. He has maintained that he will be on the field for the Giants in Week 1. He is seemingly on track to do so.

“It sounds like we’re not going to be throwing the ball a lot,” Dart said during a recent town hall with Giants fans and reporters when asked about how New York’s offense might look under new OC Matt Nagy. “We’re going to keep giving it to [Cam Skattebo] until they can stop it.” Skattebo said during the town hall that he was still learning to trust his surgically repaired ankle. He pledged to be ready to go for Week 1. If he’s not fully healthy for the season opener, look for Tyrone Tracy and perhaps Devin Singletary to take on bigger workloads.

Skattebo during a Monday town hall event said he is still learning to trust his surgically repaired ankle and conceded he’s “a little ways out” from a full recovery from a horrific lower leg injury last October. “Obviously there’s ups and downs in the injury process and coming back and rehabbing, but the mental battle has been the hardest part: making sure that I trust it fully,” Skattebo said. Look for the Giants to ease the second-year back into action this summer as he recovers from his ankle injury. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Skattebo sees a limited snap share to begin the regular season, leaving Tyrone Tracy as the Giants’ presumptive lead back, with Devin Singletary sprinkled in. Skattebo in 2025 ranked 27th out of 55 qualifying backs in rush yards after contact per carry, just behind Tony Pollard. The Athletic’s Dan Duggan said in February that Giants head coach John Harbaugh “figures to encourage a more ground-based attack” in 2026.

This timeline should allow Skattebo to participate in organized team activities, which typically occur in late May. The burly second-year back resumed running on Wednesday, and Skattebo put his speed at about “75.0 percent.” He has not yet resumed “exploding” forward, and is instead focused on “the jog and the striding.” After a hairy free agency situation in which the Giants were rumored to be interested in Kenneth Walker, Skattebo currently sits atop the Giants’ depth chart. He could warrant RB2 treatment if the Giants abstain from adding meaningful backfield competition for him in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Walker was reportedly on the Giants’ “wish list” this offseason but the going rate on a contract extension simply got too high, with the prevailing feeling now one in which the Giants simply can’t come to terms with. Even so, the fact that the Giants are seriously pursuing running backs through free agency paints a dark picture regarding their level of enthusiasm in continuing forward with Cam Skattebo in a workhorse role. Stay tuned through the opening of the legal tampering period Monday as numerous fantasy-relevant situations are sure to change.

This is the second reporter to recently suggest the Giants could be in the market to make a splash at running back this offseason. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported from the combine that the Giants were “seriously looking at some of the top RBs” in the draft or free agency. Hughes hints at Kenneth Walker being the main target of the Giants, saying we should “expect a strong push” for the four-year vet. While a move like this would undoubtedly bolster the Giants’ backfield, it could make for a frustrating fantasy situation with Cam Skattebo still expected to be in the mix and coming off a strong rookie season before his injury.

Duggan notes that new OC Matt Nagy ran the ball 41.7 percent of the time during his four-year tenure with the Bears, which was a middle-of-the-pack 14th in the NFL. But the Ravens ran the ball a league-high 50.6 percent of the time over the same timespan. Assuming Cam Skattebo sticks to his training camp return timeline, he figures to be used as a workhorse for the Giants. The idea of the Giants establishing it hard under Harbaugh and Nagy would only increase his fantasy value.

Skattebo dislocated his ankle in late October and was given a 4-6 month recovery timetable at the time. “Getting my dorsiflexion in the foot is the main thing obviously,” Skattebo said. “I was stuck in a boot for eight weeks. Just strengthening it up. I broke my bone and dislocated my ankle. So anything you can imagine to get the ankle moving again is what I have to get up.” Given that this timetable would bump up against most May team activities, it’s possible the Giants play it slow and that we don’t see much of Skattebo at early offseason activities. Still, this is an encouraging update overall and Skattebo figures to have control of the backfield if healthy after staging an early-season takeover from Tyrone Tracy in 2025.