Cam Skattebo is about as physical a running back as there is in the NFL. His hard-nosed play style made him a standout performer before his season-ending ankle injury as a rookie. He is also among the more flamboyant ballcarriers in the league. His backflip celebrations sometimes garner as much attention as the plays that warrant them.
All of that is well and good on Sundays when Skattebo is doing it against a different team. But in the context of the New York Giants‘ training camp, his brash football personality has tended to rub teammates the wrong way.
Skattebo was reportedly at the center of a fight this week that stemmed from a couple of close calls with vulnerable defensive players. On one rep, when the defense was not allowed to hit, he made a catch and slid close to a couple of defensive backs’ legs, according to the New York Daily News. Jevon Holland and Gregory Newsome took exception to the potentially dangerous play, and the situation between Newsome and Skattebo escalated.
Days earlier, Skattebo ran over linebacker Zaire Barnes in a period where, again, defensive players were not permitted to make hits.
At the suggestion that Skattebo is wearing on his defensive teammates’ nerves, one of his fellow offensive players pushed back. Offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor squashed the idea that Skattebo is the source of any rotten team chemistry.
At the same time, though, the Giants want Skattebo to keep himself in check. Coach Jim Harbaugh earlier this offseason asked him to limit his backflips during camp so as to reduce the potential for reinjury. And after his slide at Wednesday’s practice, Harbaugh made it clear he wants to set boundaries between the whistles, too.
“Skatt’s great,” Harbaugh said. “He does bring a lot of energy. But he did get a 15-yard penalty at the end of practice. Did you notice that? That’s not infectious. Well, it is infectious, actually. Infectious in a bad way. Like an infectious disease type of thing. You don’t want that. You want it to be directed in a positive way.”
Giants fans are aching to see Skattebo headbutt defenders, run right through them and pull off backflips when he crosses the goal line. That is what made him a must-watch ballcarrier in a rookie campaign that featured 617 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns across just eight games. Defenses cannot stand him, which is terrific when he plays against another team and less so when he lines up across from his own teammates for weeks on end.
