The New York Giants put their first firm-sounding timeline on their two most important rehabs this week. Appearing on The Domonique Foxworth Show, per Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper, head coach John Harbaugh said Cam Skattebo will be ready “early on in camp” and that Malik Nabers is “not far behind.” Both players, he said, are “on schedule,” adding there is “a lot of optimism about both those two guys right now.” That is a sunnier picture than the one ESPN’s Jordan Raanan sketched last week, when he reported on the John Keim Report podcast that Nabers could miss the first four or five games of the season.
Skattebo’s recovery from the dislocated and fractured ankle he suffered last October has not run on time before now. The original goal was a return for spring practices, which never materialized, and Skattebo himself acknowledged “ups and downs” in his rehab as recently as May. An early-camp practice debut would be the first checkpoint this rehab actually hits — and it matters more than most, because the Giants have said all offseason that the second-year back opens the season as their lead runner.
Nabers is working back from a torn ACL and meniscus suffered September 28, plus a second clean-up procedure on the same knee this offseason. Week 1 has been the stated target throughout, and a full training-camp ramp is the difference between that target being real and being hopeful. The league hasn’t forgotten what he is while he rehabs: in ESPN’s receiver rankings published Wednesday, Nabers drew an honorable mention, with an AFC executive saying, “He’s easily a top-10 receiver. The knee situation is worrisome.”
Worth holding onto, though, is what Harbaugh did not say. He declined to commit either player to being available when camp opens at The Greenbrier, which means the active/physically-unable-to-perform list is still a live option for both. “Early in camp” and “not far behind” are targets a coach offers in July, not roster designations — the real answer arrives when veterans report July 28 and the Giants either put both men on the practice field or don’t. The distinction between optimism and commitment is worth tracking precisely.
For fantasy purposes, an early-camp return would lock in Skattebo’s standing as the lead back and make his current mid-round price look kind. Nabers is the harder call: the gap between Harbaugh’s optimism and Raanan’s four-to-five-game estimate is the whole ballgame for a receiver being drafted on WR1 talent, and the PUP decision in late July is the next hard data point for both players.
— Rosie Meadow
