WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Cam Skattebo is all systems go at practice. His signature celebration is on hiatus.
Skattebo declared himself nearly fully healthy at New York Giants training camp, nine months removed from his gruesome right ankle and leg injury. But after getting into some hot water with the organization for doing a backflip and landing awkwardly on that surgically repaired ankle earlier this month, he's planning to stay grounded
for a while.
“Obviously, I do some dumb things here and there, but I learn from it,” Skattebo said Friday. “We’ll see when game time comes around. But right now, we’re focused on training camp, and we’ll keep the backflips off the field for now.”
Skattebo alarmed, among others, coach John Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen when they saw video of the backflip at Fanatics Fest in New York on July 18. He turned out to be fine, but a text message and some difficult conversations followed.
“He’s a young man that’s still getting used to the spotlight and in New York City, and you've got to be conscious of your actions, not only from a health standpoint but a perception standpoint,” Schoen said. “He knows I’d rather him not do that, especially this close to camp.”
It is not the first time Skattebo has been second-guessed for something off the field since reaching the NFL and getting hurt. He took part in a WWE show in November, weeks after surgery, took criticism from radio hosts but was not worse for the wear.
The botched backflip was a much riskier endeavor the Giants would rather he not repeat.
“The big picture message is you want to take care of yourself," Harbaugh said. "You want to take care of your team: do everything you can do to be healthy, be back, be right, be good.”
The 24-year-old running back declared in May he'd be ready for the season opener Sept. 13 against Dallas. Skattebo also told the coaching staff he'd be good for the start of camp and hit that deadline.
As a result, he has no limitations and is doing just about as well as he can.
“I've felt 99%,” Skattebo said. “I think the 100% is when I put shoulder pads on and I'm able to hit someone. That's when I tell you I'm 100%, but for now I'm 99.9% OK."
Skattebo will get that chance when the pads go on beginning Monday.
A 2025 fourth-round pick out of Arizona State, Skattebo rushed for 410 yards and five touchdowns on 101 carries before having his rookie year cut short Oct. 26 at Philadelphia. This past spring, he set a goal of playing 17-plus games and rushing for over 2,000 yards on 300 carries.
Skattebo didn't shy away from those lofty aspirations — which would give him a top-10 season in league history — but his main focus is on moving past the injury and rehab process and getting back to what he does best.
"It was a long, hard road," Skattebo said. “It’s time to play football.”
After being the talk of the start of camp for getting on the field for individual drills after his own lengthy rehab from a torn ACL, Malik Nabers did not take part in practice Friday. Harbaugh called it “part of the process.”
“We’ll work through it, and every single day will be what it is that given day,” Harbaugh said. “He’s worked real hard, made a lot of progress and that’s what we decided to do today for practice.”
Neither Nabers nor the Giants have set a timetable for his return to game action.
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