A Bay Area native thought he was returning home at the end of Day 2.
The San Francisco 49ers had quite the busy weekend last month at the 2025 NFL Draft, tying the league-high for number of selections made at 11.
Rather than trading up or down the board, the 49ers elected to stay put at all of their picks, while benefitting from the maximum number of compensatory picks. It was a defense-heavy draft for San Francisco, as they took five straight defensive players over the first 113 picks.
But, one of those selections could’ve actually been a running back, as New York Giants rookie believed that the 49ers were actually going to take him at No. 100 overall in the third round.
“I actually thought I was going to end up going to San Francisco with that 100th pick,” Skattebo said on the St. Brown Podcast. “Vibes started getting high, lights started turning on, videos started turning on and no phone call.
“So we woke up [at] 9:00 a.m. the next morning on Saturday, and we knew it was going be within the first 10 picks because the 49ers, the Giants, [the] Tennessee Titans and somebody else had another pick back to back to back, and I knew one of those teams were going to take me. I didn’t know which one. And then the Giants called.”
A native of Rio Linda, Skattebo was ultimately taken with the third pick in the fourth round at No. 105 overall by the New York Giants. For the 49ers, they wound up taking cornerback Upton Stout with the No. 100 overall pick, continuing their focus on shoring up defensive holes.
San Francisco ultimately did draft a running back, taking Oregon’s Jordan James with the No. 147 pick in the fifth round to provide depth behind veteran Christian McCaffrey and 2024 fourth-rounder Isaac Guerendo.
The 49ers did have an early fourth-round pick at No. 113 overall, taking Indiana defensive tackle C.J. West to continue their run of defensive players. Perhaps, things would have changed had Skattebo fallen that far, but that’s the nature of the draft.
If the 49ers had taken Skattebo in the third round, it would’ve marked the third time that San Francisco had done so in the Kyle Shanahan tenure, joining 2021 third-rounder Trey Sermon and 2022 third-rounder Tyrion Davis-Price. Neither player lasted more than two seasons with the team.
Skattebo was a star at Arizona State in 2024, rushing for a Big 12-high 1,711 yards and 21 touchdowns on 293 carries. He also caught 45 passes for 605 yards and three scores, leading him to be the 5th in the Heisman voting.
Before his two years with the Sun Devils, the California native played two seasons at Sacramento State, racking up accolades before moving to the Big 12.
He’ll get an early crack at carries, potentially working in with lead back Tyrone Tracy for the Giants.
James, on the other hand, was the lead back for Oregon, rushing for 1,267 yards and 15 touchdowns on 5.4 yards per carry. He is slated to be San Francisco’s third-stringer to begin the season.