Giants' Malik Nabers: No drop in ego, but rookie is learning about life in NFL
Malik Nabers of the Giants runs the ball against DaRon Bland and Eric Kendricks of the Dallas Cowboys during the second quarter at AT&T Stadium on Nov. 28 in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Getty Images/Sam Hodde
Malik Nabers came to the Giants believing he would be able to transfer to the NFL all the spectacular things he did in college. The catches, the yardage, the touchdowns. The wins. Definitely the wins.
Not all of that has happened, at least not to the level he imagined it might.
But even as he closes in on potentially breaking the record for receptions by a rookie receiver with five games left in this season, Nabers is starting to develop a new skill that he’s never had in his repertoire. It is one that, if properly honed, may serve him and the Giants better throughout his career than any route refinement or catching technique could.
He’s learning what it is like to be humbled, even if it’s just a smidge.
That can be a tough lesson for a player who has always played with the arrogance of the best player on the field, and often rightly so. Sometimes it creates awkward interactions that need to be cleaned up a bit, such as his recent remarks that have come off as critical of the play-calling or ambivalent about drops. Those represent him wrestling with his new place in the world of professional football where he can no longer simply trot onto the field and dazzle.
A team-high 75 catches for 740 yards and three touchdowns may be good. Nabers wants to be great.
“There’s always more for me,” he said on Wednesday. “I think I could be doing some amazing things right now. Is it going the way I thought it would go? Nah, not really. But I’m still continuing to work on trying to get that out. I feel like I could be doing way more than I’ve been doing so far, but God always had a better plan for you, you just have to follow his steps.”
While Nabers has continues to rack up the receptions, his yards and scoring have dropped since he missed two games with a concussion in October. In his first four games he had three touchdowns and averaged 11.03 yards per catch; in the six games since he came back he hasn’t scored and gains just 8.85 yards per catch.
“I’ve been trying my best to get as many yards after the catch as possible,” he said. “The defenses are keying on me more than they were the first weeks so I have to make some adjustments… It’s the league. They watch film on you.”
He said he’s working on getting his head around quicker after the catches. That can lead to the dreaded drops, though. Nabers has had eight of those, according to NextGen Stats, second-most in the NFL.
He infamously shrugged them off last week after he botched two in the Thanksgiving loss against Dallas.
“I don’t care about drops,” he said. “I mean, it’s just part of football. I don’t care if I drop the ball six times. Keep throwing me the ball.”
On Wednesday he clarified that a bit.
“I just can’t go into the game thinking about dropping the ball after I dropped the ball, keep it in my head,” he said. “I have to move forward. That’s what I was saying. Not like I was saying even when I am dropping the ball keep throwing me the ball, that I’m selfish. What I’m saying is it’s not something I am thinking about in my head after I drop the ball.
"It’s a next-play mentality. I could drop five footballs and they come at me for the game-winner and I catch the game winner and everybody is happy and stuff like that."
Head coach Brian Daboll said he understood Nabers’ initial intent.
“Malik's a competitive young man,” he said. “I think having the next-play mentality is something that we preach. I also think that he wants to make every play that comes his way.”
Now Nabers is learning he may not.
“Keep trusting me,” he said, something of a plea to the Giants. “Some plays are not going to be made, I’m aware of that. But some plays are going to be made.”
The rookie said he hasn’t sought any counsel on this from veterans or the many former LSU receivers like himself who have lived through this transition in the NFL. Nor does he make use of any of the sports psychologists or therapists who are available to him.
“I’d rather handle stuff on my own,” he said. “I know a lot of people preach to not handle everything on your own but that’s just kind of my way and how I get over a lot of stuff.”
How is he doing that?
“Focus more on the things I can control: My emotions, how I carry myself, character,” he said. “Even though these things have been going down, how you can look at yourself in the mirror and figure out how you can help the team out, help the team figure out how to win. Just focus on your character. You can’t really do anything about it now. The (team’s) record is the record. But you can still focus on moving forward.”
So he keeps going. Keeps learning on and off the field. Keeps searching for that precious balance between humility and pretension. And, for the most part, keeps catching.
If he maintains his current pace over the five remaining games he’ll finish with 112 receptions. That would break the record of 105 set by Puka Nacua of the Rams last year and shatter the team’s record of 91 set by both Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley.
“I didn’t know any of that,” he said with a smile. “I haven’t been paying attention to a lot of that stuff. I’m sure it doesn’t get notified as much as it should.”
Being on a team with the worst record in the NFL does tend to obscure all positivity. And setting records doesn’t mean as much to Nabers as winning does. But it still means something.
Of the established mark he said: “I might go look it up after having this conversation.”
His ego hasn’t been completely erased. That’s important. He’ll need that.
Just, maybe, a little less of it.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.