WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen was having dinner with friends while on vacation when he learned of Cam Skattebo’s viral failed backflip.
Needless to say, that interrupted his dinner. Briefly.
“Fired off a quick text and confirmed he was alright so we were good,” Schoen said.
Skattebo, of course, is coming back from a dislocated ankle and the failed backflip drew plenty of criticism online.
Schoen looked for the positive in the video, saying that Skattebo is
“good to go,” and that “The video shows a little bit about how good his rehab’s been, that he’s able to not land it and still be okay.”
Skattebo took team reps for the first time during mandatory minicamp. He was a full participant in Wednesday’s opening practice of training camp.
Schoen admitted that the Giants have spoken to Skattebo about the backflip.
“We have, but again, he’s a young man that’s still getting used to the spotlight and in New York City and you got to be conscious of your actions, not only from a health standpoint, but a perception standpoint,” Schoen said. “But he knows I’d rather him not do that, especially this close to camp.”
Here are a few other takeaways from Schoen’s annual pre-training camp media availability.
Why West Virginia?
The Giants could have moved training camp to a number of different facilities closer to East Rutherford, N.J. They chose the Greenbrier, largely because of the many things that were already in place.
“A lot of it was different general managers or clubs or teams that even travel in season from West to East will stay here,” Schoen said. “And again, once we did our research and talked to those coaches, and they talked about how easy it was to transition from plugging in your computer and you could watch the film, where they have a weight room, they have a training room, they have the space. The fields are excellent. The accommodations are great. So, for us, we looked locally at some places, and then we also looked down here, and this one just made the most sense for what our needs were.”
‘We’ll see’ about the run defense
The Giants were the worst team in the league defending the run last season, giving up 5.3 yards per rushing attempt. Then, they traded star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.
So, after trading Lawrence and bringing in a plethora of defensive tackles in an effort to build a deep defensive line rotation, will this defensive line be better against the run?
“We’ll see,” said Schoen.
The GM admitted the Gians will have to do handle defensive tackle “a little bit by committee.”
“Signed D.J. Reader and Shelby (Harris) and then I feel like we turned over that inside linebacker position, bringing back the outside backers that we had before,” Schoen said. “So, again, Harbs has said it multiple times about stopping the run, it’s an emphasis. We talk about it all the time. And again, it’s day one here, we’re not in pads yet, but we’re going to continue to work on that and do whatever we can to be better than we have in the past.”
John Harbaugh’s impact
What difference can Harbaugh make in the Giants’ fortunes?
“John’s record speaks for itself. He’s a tremendous leader, very organized, very detailed,” Schoen said. “His record speaks for itself, but we got to go out and still do it. We got to build the team. Every year’s different and today’s day one of building the 2026 New York Giants.
“We had a really good offseason, really good spring, he also hired a really good coaching staff. We got a really qualified coaching staff that I’ve been impressed with. So, along with some of the young nucleus and the players that are here, again, we got to go out and do it and see how it all comes together but I like where we are right now, again, coming off the spring and where we are health-wise.”
