Cam Skattebo is attracting attention for the wrong reasons lately. The New York Giants running back reportedly ruffled some feathers at an Aug. 26 practice. Skattebo's late slide after catching a pass ignited a fight with defensive backs Jevon Holland and Greg Newsome, according to multiple New York reports. Holland and Newsome took exception because Skattebo came close to taking out their legs, even though the defense wasn't allowed to make hard contact with offensive players.
Coach John Harbaugh criticized Skattebo after the practice.
"Did you see that? Yeah, it's infectious," Harbaugh said. "It can be infectious the other way, an infectious disease type thing. We want it to be in a positive way."
Several days earlier, Skattebo ran over linebacker Zaire Barnes when defensive players weren't allowed to make hits.
Previously, Skattebo's failed attempt at his signature backflip, in which he landed awkwardly on his surgically repaired right ankle at Fanatics Fest in July, reportedly prompted Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen to speak with him about his actions. Another backflip performed in late May after hitting a home run at teammate Brian Burns' celebrity softball game was successful.
Skattebo's rookie season in 2025 was cut short because of the dislocated ankle, tibia and fibula fracture and deltoid ligament rupture he suffered in a Week 8 contest against the Philadelphia Eagles. He gained 401 yards on 101 carries with five touchdowns and caught 24 passes for 207 yards and another two scores in his eight games played.
When situations like these arise, an agent should provide counsel to their client. It's an agent's job to tell a client what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear. That isn't always done. Some agents are reluctant to be candid for fear of being fired and instead become enablers.
The initial backflip created an opportunity to warn Skattebo about the risk he was taking, considering he hadn't completely recovered from a serious injury. Had there been a major setback that jeopardized or ended Skattebo's 2026 season, which fortunately didn't occur with either backflip, he would have landed on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list (NFI).
Teams don't have to pay players on NFI during the season, but can elect to do so. The skill, injury and salary cap guarantees in NFL contracts aren't applicable to non-football injuries. Salary is considered fully guaranteed when all three of these guarantees exist, but it will be void for a laundry list of reasons.
As a 2025 fourth-round pick, the only guaranteed money in Skattebo's four-year rookie contract is his $1.07 million signing bonus. That's standard for players drafted in the fourth round and beyond. The rest of Skattebo contract consists of minimum base salaries, which is also the norm beginning in the fourth round. Skattebo's 2026 salary is $1.005 million. The Giants surely wouldn't have paid Skattebo for any missed games for careless actions that could have been easily avoided.
Skattebo has more than his health at risk
More importantly, games on NFI don't count towards an accrued season (a year of service for free agency), a credited season for benefits or a credited season for minimum salary. A player must have six or more regular-season games on the 53-man roster, injured reserve, or physically unable to perform list to qualify for an accrued season. For example, if Skattebo missed the 2026 season due to a setback from a backflip and completed his rookie contract, he would have three accrued seasons, making him a restricted free agent in 2029, since four accrued seasons are necessary to be an unrestricted free agent. These ramifications could have been conveyed to Skattebo.
Another point that could be stressed to Skattebo is that Harbaugh is the main power broker with the Giants, since he reports only to ownership rather than to Schoen. The idea would be to avoid doing things that could make a negative impression on Harbaugh, as he doesn't have a vested interest in Skattebo since he wasn't part of the decision to draft him.
Several players Harbaugh coached with the Baltimore Ravens signed with the Giants during free agency. A suggestion would be to ask Skattebo to gather intel from those players, particularly fullback Patrick Ricard, on how Harbaugh operates. All of Ricard's nine NFL seasons were with the Ravens, so he should be able to provide the most insight about Harbaugh. Based on this intel, Skattebo could begin to act accordingly.
Why Skattebo's margin for error is shrinking
The Giants signed running back Najee Harris, who is returning from a left Achilles tear that occurred with the Los Angeles Chargers three games into the 2025 regular season, a couple of weeks ago. There was plenty of media speculation that the signing of Harris was related to Skattebo. Harris is a bigger running back, listed at 6-foot-1 and 232 pounds, who fits Harbaugh's preference for physical, smash-mouth football.
If representing Skattebo, the Harris signing could have been used a pre-text to get information about Skattebo's training camp performance and a sense of how the addition could impact him. During my agent days, I would routinely check with front offices where I had clients, especially those who I thought were on the roster bubble, throughout the preseason for a progress report. Any useful information would be discussed with the client.
Harris was signed to an unsecured one-year deal at his $1.215 million league minimum salary. The contract includes an injury waiver for the left Achilles and a split of $615,000. Because of the split, any week Harris isn't on the 53-man roster, he will be paid at the lower amount. This will most likely apply if Harris is put on injured reserve. Skattebo doesn't have anything to worry about with Harris from a financial standpoint.
The signing may have been more of an indictment of Tyrone Tracy Jr., who was inconsistent during the preseason. There's a reason the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't pick up a $6.79 million fifth-year option despite Harris consistently rushing beyond 1,000 yards each season. He had such a soft free agent market in 2025 that he signed a one-year prove-it deal for $5.25 million with an additional $4 million in incentives.
The reports of Skattebo's skirmish with his defensive teammates would have prompted another call to the front office for their assessment of the incident. Any negative feedback certainly would have been shared with Skattebo.
Skattebo's comments about the Fanatics Fest backflip suggest he may not necessarily follow any candid advice he receives from his representation. "I'm just gonna keep being me, Skattebo said. "If they wanna say I'm braindead and I don't have no brain, then who cares? F**k it."
Agents rarely sever relationships with clients. It's typically the player firing his agent. Erik Burkhardt eventually dropped 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel as a client. There is no comparison between Skattebo and Manziel. Skattebo's antics are benign, comparatively speaking.
Skattebo plays in the United States' biggest media market, so any missteps are more magnified in New York. The good news for Skattebo is that the regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys is less than two weeks away. The attention will primarily be on how he performs in his return from the injury. If Skattebo can pick up from where he left off last season, then anything relating to the offseason or preseason will just be a minor blip on the radar screen in the grander scheme of things.
