Giants wideout Malik Nabers' rookie season gives club glimmer of hope for future
Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) catches the ball before scoring a touchdown past Philadelphia Eagles safety Tristin McCollum (36) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Derik Hamilton
PHILADELPHIA
This goes on everyone’s permanent record.
John Mara. Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll. The assistant coaches. The players. They all own it, in perpetuity.
The franchise-record 14 losses after the Giants fell to the Eagles, 20-13, on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. The winless record against the NFC East. The losing streak at the Linc that began in 2014. The 100th-season celebration that turned into an embarrassment.
All of it.
But no matter how bad things got this season, the Giants are contractually obligated to take the field again in September, and on Sunday there also were records that reminded beleaguered fans of at least the glimmer of a positive future.
Rookie receiver Malik Nabers went out in style, catching five passes for 64 yards to set a Giants single-season record with 109 receptions.
He also, at least briefly, held the NFL single-season rookie record for receptions. That was before Raiders tight end Brock Bowers caught four passes for 50 yards and a score to finish the season with 112 receptions.
And remember, Nabers missed two games because of a concussion.
Again, none of this excuses the bigger picture of this Giants season. But at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, the 2025-26 season effectively began, and the Giants at least seem able to count on one thing:
If they ever find a competent quarterback, that quarterback will have someone worthy to throw to.
When it came to an end, Nabers described his rookie season as a “roller coaster.”
He was able to savor the good stuff, admitting that he was keeping track of both the Giants’ single-season reception record and the NFL rookie reception mark as the day unfolded.
But he also knows 3-14 is more important than 109.
“We have the right pieces,” Nabers said. “We just have to play as a unit. We have to play as a team . . . The team is close. We just have to do the little things right.”
In a season with little to celebrate, the Giants were well aware of the records Nabers was aiming for. Nabers certainly was.
His fourth catch, for three yards midway through the third quarter, elevated him to 108, one more than Steve Smith’s 2009 team record.
What did that mean to him?
“To end the year off right,” Nabers said. “End it strong and carry it on to next year.”
Nabers was banged up earlier in the game and sat out the possession after his record-breaker. Then he returned and got to No. 109 in dramatic fashion.
Early in the fourth quarter, Drew Lock threw deep under pressure and found Nabers alone. The Eagles’ Tristin McCollum hit him, but Nabers bounced off the hit and while off-balance managed to contort himself to stay inbounds while running down the right sideline and then barely get inside the end zone pylon.
It was a 45-yard scoring play, his seventh touchdown of the season.
“I really had a post [route], but I converted it and I ran a little go and me and Drew were on the same page,” Nabers said. “He gave me a good ball.”
Nabers said he had been keeping track of Bowers’ totals all season and had been exchanging texts with him on the subject.
“I told him he got there before me and I applaud him for that,” he said, referring to Bowers surpassing Puka Nacua’s 2023 NFL rookie record of 105 last weekend.
Wan’Dale Robinson, who caught 10 passes Sunday to finish with 93, said of Nabers, “That’s a great accomplishment. I’m really excited for him. He comes into work, works really hard and does everything you want.”
Nabers sat out the last two plays of the game before the Eagles ended it with an interception of Lock. Daboll said Nabers was out because the coach had called a double move for Jalin Hyatt. Nabers simply said he came off because he was told to come off.
All that matters now is 2025. Nabers said he naturally will be following with interest the team’s quest for a new quarterback.
“I’m sure I’m going to have a lot of phone calls,” he said, “but I’m going to let upstairs handle that. That’s out of my control.”
Nabers said he learned a lot as a rookie, including what he needs to do better.
“A lot of guys going on to play [in the playoffs] and you have to go home, so it hits hard,” he said. “But that’s football, that’s the NFL.
“The first year hurts. But I’m going to lean on next year just to have that in the back of my head.”
What would it be like to someday be a winner and look back to how the losing felt?
“I’m sure it would mean the most to anybody to come from down low and go to the top,” he said.
On Sunday, that looked like a long, long road. But it has to start somewhere.
Now find this guy a QB.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.