Two Carries, Four Running Backs and a Depth Chart the Giants Haven't Changed

The depth chart on the Giants' website lists their running backs in this order: Cam Skattebo, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Najee Harris, Devin Singletary. It carries no date stamp. It is what the team has published as of Tuesday morning, and it is the same order GiantsGator noted was unsettled going into the season.

Here is what the team did in the two days before that.

Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, in a 28-20 win over Dallas, Tracy played two offensive snaps, 3 percent of the Giants' offensive plays. He carried twice for 14 yards and was not targeted. He played nine snaps on special teams, 47 percent of that unit's work and more than four times his offensive workload. Skattebo played 42 offensive snaps, 61 percent of the total.

The second of Tracy's two carries came in the second quarter with the score 7-7. He gained eight yards before Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams caught him from behind and knocked the ball loose at the Dallas 21. Cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. recovered. Tracy did not touch the ball again. Big Blue View and Sports Illustrated both described him as benched for the rest of the night. The Giants have not used that word.

Four Giants put the ball on the ground Sunday. Jon Runyan Jr., Isaiah Likely and Skattebo each fumbled and the Giants kept it. Tracy's was the only one lost. Skattebo finished with 18 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown. Singletary had six carries for 16 yards and caught four passes for 22 yards and a score. Harris, signed Aug. 18, was inactive by coach's decision.

Monday afternoon the Giants worked out 10 free agents. Four were running backs: Ulysses Bentley IV, D'Ernest Johnson, Phil Mafah and Blake Watson. The other six were defensive linemen and linebackers. ESPN's Jordan Raanan posted the list at 8:18 p.m. Big Blue View's Ed Valentine had reported the roster moves at 5:14 p.m., and Sports Illustrated's Patricia Traina carried them the same afternoon.

At 4 p.m., the Giants announced they had signed Mafah to the practice squad and waived receiver Dalen Cambre. Both moves are on the team's transactions log. The workout is not. It is not in the release announcing Mafah, which gives no reason for the move and no background on him. It is not in the team's Week 1 tracker. It is not in the Giants' write-up of Harbaugh's news conference.

Harbaugh took 15 questions at that news conference. None of them concerned his running backs. Asked why the running game had worked, he named one player: "Well, I think it probably started with Skatt," he said, per the team's transcript. "I mean, he was running really, really hard, really, really well." Tracy, Harris and the workout did not come up.

No one has reported that the workout and Sunday's game were connected. What is on the record is the order of events and the documents the team chose to publish.

Mafah is 23, a seventh-round pick of the Cowboys in 2025 out of Clemson, 239th overall. He spent most of his rookie season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury and played one NFL game — Week 18, against the Giants — carrying five times for 18 yards and a touchdown and catching two passes for 11 yards. He hurt his chest in Dallas' preseason opener Aug. 15 and the Cowboys released him Aug. 30.

The last time Harbaugh discussed the order of his backfield at any length was Aug. 24, after Tracy lost a fumble inside the Miami 10 in the preseason. He declined to rank his backs. "It's ongoing right now," Harbaugh said. "It's still to be determined over the course of the next week."

Three weeks on, the depth chart the Giants publish still lists Tracy second, ahead of Harris and Singletary. GiantsGator wrote in August that the roster math favored keeping all four. On Sunday the second-listed back played two offensive snaps. On Monday the team worked out four running backs and signed one of them to the practice squad.