Notebook: Malik Nabers prepared for extra attention from Commanders

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Malik Nabers has a brief but revealing description for how NFL teams are defending him.

“It’s not fun,” the Giants exceptional rookie wide receiver said today.

Well, it isn’t supposed to be.

Any team that plays the Giants knows Nabers is their top offensive weapon. So, they routinely assign more than one defender to cover him.

“It feels good that I earned the respect, but I still want the ball,” Nabers said.

Oh, he gets it. Although Nabers missed two of the Giants’ first eight games with a concussion, he is second in the NFL with 73 targets. He was targeted 12 or more times in four of the six games in which he’s played.

Nabers leads the Giants with 498 receiving yards and three touchdowns and is second with 46 caches (Wan’Dale Robinson has 48). He is eighth in the NFL in receptions and second with 16 third-down receptions (Robinson has 17).

Nabers has the second-most receptions by any player over his first six career games since 1970. Only the Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua (50 in 2023) had more. Nacua, with 58, is only player since 1970 with 50+ receptions over his first seven games. Nabers can match him by catching 12 passes Sunday in MetLife Stadium against the Washington Commanders; he caught 12 passes vs. Dallas on Sept. 26.

But the Commanders will certainly blanket Nabers with multiple defenders. Everyone else does. Nabers is accustomed to it from his standout career at LSU and has caught at least four passes in every game he’s played this season.

“I’ve been getting double-teamed my whole career,” Nabers said. “It’s nothing different. It’s just a new level. So, nothing new, just got to find another way to try to get open.”

He does that very well, despite the attention. The statistic that perhaps best illustrates his ability: Nabers leads the NFL and is on a record pace for a rookie since 1970 with 7.7 receptions per game (minimum five games played). The current full season record holder? Former Giant Odell Beckham, Jr., who averaged 7.6 catches a game 10 years ago. Brock Bowers, the Las Vegas Raiders’ rookie tight end, is close behind with 6.5 receptions a game.

Nabers said early in the season he saw straight man-to-man coverage. But when the Giants played week 2 in Washington, he caught 10 passes for 127 yards and his first NFL touchdown. That confirmed for opponents what the Giants already knew: Nabers is a special player. Those opponents began to assign more than one defensive back to accompany him down the field.

“They are just trying to stop the explosives from happening,” Nabers said of big plays. “That’s what every defense wants. You don’t want no big plays happening.”