This offseason, when the New York Giants were trying to plot their best path to upgrading the roster, one player who stuck out during the selection process was LSU’s star receiver Malik Nabers. The Giants couldn’t wait to turn in the card, making Nabers the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
He immediately earned a starting role, where he’s already become the top target in New York’s passing offense. Through Week 4, the 21-year-old led all rookies with 386 receiving yards. Heck, those numbers were good enough to place him among the NFL leaders. Nabers was well on track to competing with Jayden Daniels to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.
But Nabers got hurt in the Giants’ Week 4 loss to the Cleveland Browns, suffering a concussion. The head injury kept him out of the lineup for the Giants’ Week 5 win over Seattle too. Now, the team is prepping for Week 6, but their star receiver is drawing some criticism for his off-field actions.
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Brian Daboll refuses to address Malik Nabers’ off-field activities
After missing last Sunday’s big win, Malik Nabers did a bit of light work in practice on Wednesday before reducing his workload on Thursday. Yet, officially, he did not practice in either session. While he was unable to practice with his teammates, that didn’t prevent Nabers from enjoying life outside of football, by attending a Travis Scott rap concert on Wednesday night.
Malik Nabers was at the Travis Scott concert at MetLife stadium last night while he is still in concussion protocol and not practicing
— Marshall Green (@MarshallGreen_) October 10, 2024
🎥 @ajbrescia pic.twitter.com/E93FU1v1PZ
When his head coach, Brian Daboll, was asked about what he thought of Nabers spending time around extremely loud music while he’s working through concussion symptoms, the Giants leader stayed quiet, refusing to address the topic outside of the locker room.
Brian Daboll is asked if he had a problem with Malik Nabers attending Travis Scott's concert at MetLife Stadium earlier this week:
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) October 11, 2024
"I'll keep that in house" pic.twitter.com/sBY2QrQwGz
Daboll won’t tell us, but our guess is he’s not happy with his star rookie. Yet, instead of making a big deal out of it in public with the media, he chose to address the situation in-house. That’s probably a wise call, making sure he doesn’t alienate himself from his star player in public. As to how Nabers may have handled this possible criticism from his head coach? That’s anyone’s guess. Maybe he chooses to take out his frustrations on the playing field.
But it won’t happen on Sunday, as Nabers has already been ruled out of action. Our guess is he’ll be back in the lineup for New York’s Week 7 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles when Saquon Barkley returns to MetLife for the first time without a Giants uniform on.
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