Singletary Is the Bridge, and Nine Games Is a Long Way to Cross
The Giants are not expected to make a significant move at running back. That much was made clear after Tyrone Tracy Jr. went on injured reserve with a hamstring injury last week. The plan, per reporting, is to lean on Cam Skattebo and Devin Singletary. Which is fine, as plans go — until you look at what those two have actually produced together and realize the math requires everything to go right for nine more games.
Start with Singletary. Across six games this season, he has 123 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns — serviceable depth numbers, not a workload back's numbers. He has been a complementary piece in a committee that was already thin. Now he is being asked to absorb a meaningful share of carries behind a lead back who may be compromised. Skattebo felt something in his hamstring on the penultimate play of the Houston game, and while he played most of that contest, the Giants are now managing two backs with the same injury concern that just ended Tracy's season. That is not a coincidence you can paper over with optimism.
The deeper problem is what this backfield was built to do. The power-running identity that John Harbaugh brought to this franchise — the physical, clock-controlling ground game that was supposed to take pressure off Jameis Winston — depends on a reliable lead carrier who can absorb volume. Skattebo has been that carrier. His 437 yards across seven games represent the overwhelming majority of what this ground game has produced. Remove him, or reduce him, and you are asking Singletary to become something he has not been asked to be this season.
What makes this genuinely dangerous rather than merely inconvenient is the schedule context. The Giants are 5-2-1, sitting first in the NFC East with a magic number of 10 and nine games remaining. They are a legitimate contender. But last season's version of this team went 1-6 in games decided by a touchdown or fewer — it collapsed precisely when margin vanished. The current team has reversed that pattern, winning close games through execution and poise. A functional running game is not incidental to that reversal; it is structural. Play-action credibility, third-down conversions, clock management in the fourth quarter — all of it runs through the backfield's ability to threaten defenses on early downs.
My read is that the Giants can survive this stretch if Skattebo's hamstring is minor and he returns to full workload quickly. Gregory Desrosiers is listed behind Singletary on the depth chart, and the roster addition of Phil Mafah gives the room a body. But bodies are not carries, and carries are not production. The Giants did not make a significant trade at the deadline, which is their prerogative — but it means the margin for Skattebo's health has gone from thin to nearly nonexistent. Nine games into a playoff race is a long time to ask a bridge back to hold the weight of a contender.