NFL

‘Next great one’: Malik Nabers poised to show Giants and everyone how special he can be

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2 weeks ago

September 3, 2024

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‘Next great one’: Malik Nabers poised to show Giants and everyone how special he can be

EAST RUTHERFORD − Malik Nabers’ competitive fire was mentioned in scouting reports throughout the NFL.

His on-field tenacity earned praise, for sure, but whether this dawg had too much bite for teams to handle remained in question. Was one of the most talented wide receivers in the Class of 2024 − maybe the most talented of them all − going to be difficult to deal with at the next level?

The New York Giants naturally wondered the same, which is why they dug deep on the 21-year-old in the pre-draft evaluation. And even after drafting Nabers sixth overall, the team and the player relived the process while seeing things play out on “Hard Knocks” every Tuesday night in the month of July.

So around that time, it was worth reaching out to those within the Giants organization who had spent the first two months of Nabers’ professional life learning more about him, just to get a sense of what people who had watched him closely thought.

One text message resonated more than the rest.

“This dude is gonna be a problem.”

The initial reaction: Really? Were the Giants welcoming a combustible, high-maintenance player into their locker room at such a critical time for team brass, most notably general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll?

So a follow-up inquiry was indeed necessary, and the reply from that individual provided the context that currently fuels the optimism within a franchise that has been down for far too long.

“A problem for everybody who plays us.”

Nabers has whet the Big Apple’s appetite for greatness since joining the Giants this spring. It’s now go time as the curtain rises on his rookie season in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings visiting MetLife Stadium for Sunday’s 2024 opener.

Schoen was a young scout with the Carolina Panthers and saw the identity-changing impact of Steve Smith Sr., whose brashness was a badge of honor. He was Brandon Beane’s right-hand man with the Buffalo Bills when they acquired Stefon Diggs, whose route running was not his only on-field quality described as nasty.

“It’s what separates all the guys that are 6-foot, that are 200 pounds and run a 4.45, there’s a bunch of them out there,” Schoen said. “To me it always goes back to grit, toughness, tenacity. You can’t coach that. You can’t teach that. I think Malik best illustrates that.”

Nabers, 21, is set up to be the centerpiece of the Giants offense. He will wear No. 1, which had been retired by the team for nearly 90 years before co-owner John Mara asked for and was granted permission from legend Ray Flaherty’s family to allow the sixth overall pick to wear that digit.

Talk about pressure, although the way Nabers sees it, he was ready to embrace massive expectations already.

“I’m going to try my best to wear it with pride, continue to be who I am,” he said, adding: “The stakes are already high. I’m ready for the competition. I’m ready to see what the league is all about.”

Malik Nabers: Commitment and sacrifice

Football coach Donald Fusilier met Nabers when he was 14 and quickly learned how serious he was about the game.

“Coach Fuse” was starting up a 7-on-7 team, and Malik’s mother Tonya had to just about empty her bank account in order to get her son to the tryouts. The commitment to and sacrifice for Nabers’ dream was evident from the outset.

After that, Fusilier helped out by taking Malik to summer camps, doing what he could to make sure a talented player did not get lost in the crowd. Fusilier would videotape Nabers going through drills and they would watch afterward, breaking down his route running and picking his game apart in slow motion, frame by frame.

The eager student never flinched at his coach’s pleas to improve, and by the time Nabers reached his junior season in high school, he began to dominate the competition. He also developed a burning desire to hone his skill set with a critical eye, and that has continued to this day.

‘Focusing after mistakes’ at LSU

The final game of Nabers’ sophomore year at LSU announced his arrival as the school’s next great receiver. He finished the season with a career-high 163 yards receiving in the Citrus Bowl, seizing an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.

Still, with the Citrus Bowl MVP trophy next to him in the postgame news conference, Nabers insisted he was not satisfied.

Reporters in Orlando and his head coach, Brian Kelly, opted to lay out the path to greatness on which he was now traveling.

“You could see that he wanted to make sure that he made a statement out there,” Kelly said of Nabers, who had nine catches in the game in addition to throwing a touchdown pass to quarterback Jayden Daniels, now with the Washington Commanders, who will see the Giants in Week 2.

All Nabers wanted to acknowledge were his flaws, glancing down at the stat sheet and pointing out how he also had three drops. A renewed purpose in his growth as a player as he took up the “mantle,” as Kelly said: Learn how to refocus after mistakes, a “look in the mirror” factor, a critical step in his development.

Respect at Giants training camp

Two weeks ago, Nabers had a similar reaction when he let a Daniel Jones bomb slip through his hands as rain began to fall late in the joint practice against the Jets. Afterward, Jets All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner offered up the praise rarely doled out to those who have yet to play an NFL game, let alone achieved the success he has so far.

“Leek’s very humble in his approach,” Daboll told NorthJersey.com. “But he’s got that competitive spirit and natural ability that you look for.”

In other words: Nabers has “it” ‒ and that is undeniable. Has been that way all summer.

Toughness. Smooth in and out of breaks. Quick releases at the line of scrimmage.

Sure hands when catching the ball and seemingly always away from his body.

Nabers looks like he’s not running hard, and yet you know he is. That’s how he was able to turn a double-move on a third-and-12 in practice this summer into six yards of separation and an eventual 50-yard TD in the blink of an eye.

On an invitation from Schoen and Daboll, Steve Smith Sr. spent the spring with the Giants as a consultant/coaching assistant working with the wide receivers. What he said about Nabers prior to the draft has resonated: “Watching Nabers run routes is like watching Picasso paint.”

Calling his play effortless would be discounting the level of work he actually puts into being this good.

What gives Nabers the best chance to separate from good in his quest to be great: his instincts.

The nuance with which he gets open appears to be next level.

“I don’t really like talking about myself a lot,” Nabers said when asked this week by NorthJersey.com what makes him a special player. “I believe, I’m just a dawg. When I’m out there on the field, I just want to be a dawg. Be a difference maker. Be a player that my coaches can count on.”

It’s understandable that the Giants have tried to temper the enthusiasm despite what Nabers has shown already. He is getting ready to play his first game that counts, yet the intensity has been ratcheted up from the moment he walked across that stage in Detroit, gave that hug to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and held up his first blue Giants jersey: No. 1, of course.

Maybe this was destined for Nabers after all.

“It’s all there to make his own legacy and be the next great one,” Giants icon Victor Cruz told NorthJersey.com. “I think he has all the tools to be great.”

The Giants believe everyone else is about to find out just how special Malik Nabers can be.