New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo has never lacked for confidence, but it’s fair to say his goals for the 2026 NFL season might be a little lofty.
Speaking Monday night at a team event in New York City, Skattebo predicted he would rush for 2,000 yards this season.
The Giants’ 2025 fourth-round pick out of Arizona State rushed for 410 yards and five touchdowns in his injury-shortened rookie season. Skattebo played eight games, but his season ended when he broke his right fibula and dislocated his right ankle in a Week 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I had 400 yards on 100 carries,” Skattebo said at the event. “When I play 17-plus games this year, it’s going to be 300 carries for over 2,000 yards.”
The math doesn’t exactly add up. Skattebo averaged 4.1 yards per carry last season. If he averages 4.1 yards per carry for 300 carries, that would be 1,230 yards. Skattebo rushed for 1,711 yards as a senior at Arizona State. That was in 13 games, rushing 293 times for an average of 5.8 yards a pop.
More important than Skattebo’s lofty projections was the news that his injury rehabilitation has been on pace.
“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. “I’m a little ways out. Not too far, but I’ll be ready to go. Week 1, I’ll be ready to go.”
The emergence of Skattebo and quarterback Jaxson Dart last season gave Giants fans optimism for the future. The hiring of new head coach John Harbaugh also has this team on an upward trajectory.
The Giants added a few of Harbaugh’s former players from the Baltimore Ravens — including fullback Patrick Ricard, who helped Derrick Henry rush for an average of 1,758 yards the last two seasons. If Skattebo can put up numbers like that, it would be considered a massive success.
For the record, the Giants’ best single-season rushing mark was set by Tiki Barger in 2005, when he rushed for 1,860 yards. Only nine players in NFL history have ever rushed for 2,000 yards in a season.
