A season-ending ankle injury led New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo to consider retirement as a rookie last year, he said on Thursday.
Skattebo was injured in his eighth NFL game, a 38-20 loss at Philadelphia on Oct. 26. He said on Kay Adams’ “Up and Adams Show” that he “definitely” contemplated retiring.
“Yeah, definitely. I would say probably a month in,” said Skattebo, 24. “The first month was kind of like, ‘Damn, do I really want to do this?” And then, you know, it was seven games. I was like, ‘You know, I got to go back and play.’ ”
The severity of the injury, however, told him there was “no shot” to return.
Skattebo recalled a pledge he made to himself after finishing his college career at Arizona State.
“… coming out of college going in the NFL, I think I gave myself one rule and it was, if I ever got a major injury, I was done playing,” said Skattebo, who was selected by the Giants in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. “And that happened seven games into my career, so it kind of sucked.”
He played in eight games (five starts) and ran for 410 yards and five touchdowns, adding 207 yards and two touchdowns on 24 pass receptions.
A silver lining to being unable to stay physically active was that Skattebo turned inward in self-reflection.
“I was able to sit at home for 14 hours a day, do absolutely nothing, for weeks on end,” Skattebo said. “So just finding who I was, finding my happiness, finding the person I wanted to be on and off the field. And I think that that’s something that I’ve built over the last nine, 10 months.”
Back in camp and preparing for the season opener on Sept. 13 against the visiting Dallas Cowboys, he said the focus is on football.
“I’ve had lots of talks with family and friends that, ‘Hey, look, it’s football time now.’ And all my outside stressors from football kind of go away now because I’ve been able to have those talks with people and allow myself to focus on one thing,” Skattebo said. “So it’s been awesome.”
The mulling retirement is in the past, he said, while the time away from football was beneficial in learning about himself.
“But I think that gave me an extra step of finding that deep place and coming out of a hole that I didn’t know I could come out of,” Skattebo said. “So, I’m appreciative of it, and I’m excited to see what I can build off of it.”