New York Giants rookie Malik Nabers is creating a serious buzz at training camp this month and garnering comparisons to some of the best wide receivers in the league.
Heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, Ohio State star Marvin Harrison Jr. was seen as the best wide receiver in the class. However, as the pre-draft process played out, LSU pass catcher Malik Nabers started flying up draft boards and was viewed as even better than Harrison Jr. by some football evaluators.
That is why it was seen as a big win for the Giants when they landed him with the sixth overall selection in April. However, it put added pressure on the young receiver since many New York fans wanted to see the organization take one of the top quarterbacks available in this year’s event. But that extra scrutiny has shown little effect on the 21-year-old prospect.
In a new training camp notebook column, SNY NFL insider Connor Hughes raved about how impressed he has been with Nabers. And even compared his start in camp to the early days of some of the top receivers in the game. Including a former New York Giants star.
Malik Nabers stats (College): 189 catches, 3,003 receiving yards, 21 touchdowns, 15.9 yards per catch
New York Giants insider raves about Malik Nabers’ unbelievable start to training camp
“Malik Nabers is absurd. I covered the NFL since 2014 and among the players I’ve covered I’ve never once seen a rookie make such a seamless transition. That includes Odell Beckham Jr., who missed the majority of his first summer with a hamstring injury. Guys like Justin Jefferson, Beckham, and Mike Evans are anomalies. The college-NFL transition for wideouts isn’t supposed to be easy. Yet here’s Nabers, open seemingly every play and catching everything thrown his way.
That’s not hyperbole. A quarterback targeting a receiver three or four times a practice is noteworthy. The Giants threw to Nabers eight times on Monday. They threw to him nine times on Tuesday. Nabers caught 16 of those 17 targets! That is ridiculous. It’s not like they’re all slants and screens, either. Two of the catches were contested, toe-tapping, sideline grabs for scores.
It’s one thing for Nabers to do this to the Giants’ secondary, which figures to endure growing pains throughout the season. The fact he dominated the Lions just the same should lead to immense hype entering 2024.”
– Connor Hughes
That is pretty impressive for such a young receiver. However, Giants fans have seen it before in a fellow LSU alum, Odell Beckham, Jr., and the shocking start he got off to in his New York career. If he can be anything close to that, the team has a superstar on their hands.
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