For Cam Skattebo, his rookie season in the NFL ended prematurely due to a serious injury. Now, the New York Giants running back has admitted that retirement was not far off.

Cam Skattebo took the NFL by storm during his 2025 rookie season—not only because of his stats, but also because of his uncompromising style of play. Some even said the New York Giants running back had a touch of madness.

Skattebo didn’t hold back, but that had serious consequences. In late October, he suffered a severe injury during a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, sustaining an open ankle fracture. That ended his season.

Now the 24-year-old has admitted that he openly considered ending his career. “In the first month, I thought to myself, ‘Damn, do I really want to do this?’ And then it was seven games. I had to get back out there and play,” he said on Kay Adams’ podcast “Up & Adams Show.”

In doing so, however, he broke a personal rule he had set for himself. “When I finished college and moved to the NFL, I made a rule for myself: If I ever suffered a serious injury, my career as a player would be over,” he said. “And that’s exactly what happened to me after seven games—that was pretty rough.”

Skattebo Finds New Motivation During Injury

However, the monotony of his recovery period also helped him find new motivation. For weeks, he did “absolutely nothing for 14 hours a day.” That time helped him “figure out who I am as a player and as a person,” he explained.

He elaborated: “Simply figuring out who I was, finding my happiness, finding the person I wanted to be on and off the field. And I think that’s something I’ve built up over the last nine or ten months, and that I can now focus entirely on soccer again.”

Skattebo finished his rookie season with 617 total yards and seven touchdowns. He is once again slated to be the Giants’ No. 1 running back for the upcoming season, though the roster includes three other running backs: newcomer Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy, and Devin Singletary.