Giants running back Cam Skattebo revealed on the Up & Adams Show that he considered retiring after suffering a gruesome injury to his right leg last season.
“Yeah, definitely,” Skattebo said when asked if he thought about walking away from the field, but acknowledged that his recovery experience was valuable in “learning about myself.”
“I think that gave me an extra step of finding that deep place and coming out of a hole I didn’t know I would come out of,” he added.
Skattebo, 23, arrived in New York as a fourth-round pick last year and quickly established himself as the Giants’ starting running back as a rookie. He averaged 83.9 total yards per game through the first seven weeks of the season but was carted off the field in Week 8 after suffering a severe ankle dislocation, multiple fractures, and ligament damage. A lengthy recovery process awaited him, though his inclusion on New York’s initial 53-man roster indicates that an early-season return is on the table. Skattebo himself said in May that he expected to play in Week 1.
Despite his physical, hard-hitting running style, Skattebo did not deal with any major injuries in college. But the possibility remained in his mind.
“Coming out of college, going into the NFL, I think I gave myself one rule,” Skattebo said. “It was if I ever got a major injury, I was done playing. And that happened seven games into my career, so it kind of sucked.”
Thankfully for the Giants, Skattebo broke his rule and is now looking to pick up where he left off last season, though the team may be cautious in his first few games back. New York has plenty of running back depth with Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary returning from last year’s squad and Najee Harris joining the group in August. As a result, even when Skattebo is back to full strength, he may not step into a true RB1 workload. But with new head coach John Harbaugh bringing his run-heavy offensive style to New York, the second-year back should still have plenty of touches.
“You’re going to see the New York Giants run the football,” Skattebo said. “I think that’s Harbaugh’s plan, that’s kind of what we want to do: establish the run and be physical. He’s been able to bring Najee in and build a backfield that is going to punish you the whole game.
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