Giants WR Malik Nabers' catch with Shedeur Sanders a preview of things to come?

Malik Nabers caught passes from an intriguing new quarterback this weekend.

Not Tim Boyle, who stepped into action to replace a concussed Tommy DeVito in the second half of the Giants’ 35-14 loss to the Ravens on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

Boyle performed steadily, if not admirably, with a stat line that included a 23-yard touchdown pass to Nabers. Although those throws represented their ever first action together, in games or practices or otherwise, they came at the end of an already lopsided game at the end of an already dismal season.

The more titillating tosses Nabers hauled in came on Friday night when, like the contrived plot of some rom-com that brings two soul mates together, he bumped into the University of Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders at a jewelry store in Manhattan. Sanders was in town to support his college teammate, Travis Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy.

Oh, and there happened to be a football lying around. How convenient for these star-crossed stars who of course went out into the nearby street, bundled up in their parkas, with New York traffic whizzing by, and started tossing it back and forth.

Shedeur Sanders and Malik Nabers linked up in NYC and were throwing the football in the streets 🔥

(via Well Off Media/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/O3itcqXcRj

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 14, 2024

It was hard for even the most jaded of Giants fans to see the video of that encounter and not feel as if it was a glimpse into the brighter future. And while Nabers chose not to discuss the encounter — “I want to keep my focus on just the game,” he said after the blowout loss — there were certainly many others on the team who noticed and were stopped by it. Even just seeing the clips on social media, the sparks between the two players was palpable.

Move over Harry and Sally. This was “When Malik Met Shedeur.”

When Nabers came into the locker room on Saturday morning, his fellow receivers were looking over his shoulder looking for his new friend and teasing him about the encounter as if it was a great first date.

“We joked with him,” fellow receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said. “But obviously that’s above our paygrade if that happens, however that goes.”

Said receiver Darius Slayton: “I saw it on Twitter [now X] just like everybody else did. Cool that they got the chance to meet. Good for them.”

Nabers and Sanders actually met before, when they were in high school at a camp run by Sanders’ Hall of Fame father, Deion Sanders. Nabers discussed that experience last week. But this was the first time they were able to interact with the realistic prospect of a future NFL relationship looming between them.

The player who was there to actually witness the meet-cute on Friday night, Giants linebacker Isaiah Simmons, gave his blessing to the potential future union.

“I think he’s a guy who can come here and really transform things,” Simmons said of Sanders. “Anywhere he goes, I think he’s going to be a very, very valuable piece.

“Kind of like a Jayden Daniels effect. You see what’s Jayden’s done [for the Commanders]. I could see something like that happening with Shedeur as well, wherever he ends up.”

Daniels was, of course, Nabers’ quarterback at LSU. He’s a favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Nabers, meanwhile, is having a record-setting year for the Giants himself. On Sunday, he brought his season total up to 90 receptions, and with three games remaining he is well within striking distance of the team and league records for most catches by a rookie. He also caught his first touchdown since Sept. 22 to give him four for the season. Nabers is within range of 1,000 receiving yards on the year, too, now standing at 901.

Four is also the number of quarterbacks who Nabers has caught game passes from this season, a list that included Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, DeVito and now Boyle. None of them, though, have been able to make a strong connection with Nabers.

So Sunday’s game was just another example, in a season full of them, of what the Giants are missing.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, an MVP candidate, completed 21 of 25 passes for 290 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another 65 yards on six carries . . . and he sat out most of the fourth quarter!

“I mean that’s a pretty important position and he’s one of the best in the league and you saw that out there today,” coach Brian Daboll said.

The difference between what the contending teams in the league have at quarterback and what the Giants currently have is stark. Until they can land a quarterback who will at least enter the conversation of top tier, they’ll be stuck in their current state of frustration.

So too will Nabers be.

Nabers noted that while he had success with Daniels for a brief time at LSU, most of his playing career has been spent on losing teams. He said there are some lessons from those experiences that he leans on now.

“You have to have all the right pieces together if you want to have a winning program,” Nabers said. “We’re just trying to find those pieces to help us win . . . I’m sure upstairs will do a great job trying to find the missing pieces of that. I’m going to leave them to do that.”

Maybe, though, it would be easier if it was the other way around.

The Giants will spend the next few months breaking down film, conducting interviews, holding hundreds of internal meetings, visiting pro days and wringing their hands endlessly, all in an effort to find their next franchise quarterback in April’s draft.

Nabers? He went Christmas shopping with a teammate and found one sitting there in the store waiting for him.