Giants' Malik Nabers thinks he and new quarterback Tommy DeVito will get along just fine
Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers catches a pass against the Carolina Panthers during the second half of an NFL football game on Nov. 10 in Munich, Germany. Credit: AP/Lennart Preiss
The non-quarterback on the team to whom this recent shake-up at the position should matter the most seems to approve of it.
Malik Nabers already has become the most leaned-upon offensive piece in the Giants’ limited arsenal and figures to remain that way for the foreseeable future. The Giants are invested in him, and therefore he should be invested in whom they decide to have throwing the ball to him.
Ultimately he expressed some indifference as to who that someone should be the rest of this season and beyond. Daniel Jones? Tommy DeVito? A rookie or a vet next year?
Whatever.
Doesn’t really matter.
“I don’t want anything,” the rookie receiver said when asked on Thursday what he looks for from a passer. “I want the ball. As long as you can get me the ball, then we’re good. As long as we can get me the ball, I should be able to make something happen with it.”
Simple enough.
On Sunday, it will be DeVito’s job to try to do that.
The two hadn’t paired up for a live reception together since OTAs in the spring, as Nabers generally was with the starters and DeVito was the third-stringer before this big promotion, but they’ve been putting in extra time during and after practices this week trying to kick-start a new on-field connection.
“I can establish chemistry with anybody,” Nabers said. “I’m able to get open, I’m able to create separation. I mean, that’s a plus for him, for sure, that he’s comfortable throwing me the ball.”
Nabers didn’t know anything about DeVito until they became teammates after April’s draft. He was busy playing at LSU at this time last season when DeVito became a brief but loud NFL sensation. Now Nabers seems to like what he’s seen from and heard about DeVito (maybe especially compared to Jones, the quarterback who has been throwing to him).
Nabers said DeVito has “a steamer for an arm.”
“His intentions with the ball are precise,” he said. “He’s able to deliver the ball before you get out of your break. [Coach Brian] Daboll told me to make sure you get your head around pretty fast because the ball is going to be coming . . . Just having that as a quarterback, the anticipation for him to throw the ball before you get out of your break, that’s what we need.”
And he noted: “I get open pretty well. I create a lot of separation. I’m sure he’s going to be able to see me on different routes when I get open and be able to deliver the ball.”
Hmm. Spotting open receivers? Putting the ball where it should be placed? Those sound like just some of the deficiencies that led to Jones’ benching.
The last time the Giants were on the field, Jones took a bad sack with two available targets on a flea-flicker and threw two interceptions on tipped passes that were imprecise in their location.
Despite their limited reps together, the Giants seem to have faith that DeVito and Nabers will hit it off as a passing duo.
“They’ve been teammates here this whole season, so it’s not like the first time they were talking to each other was yesterday,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “I think they’re good friends. I think they’re good buddies. I think as they just continue to talk more on the field, talk about certain routes and the timing of those things, whether they’re talking about it or repping it out on a different field, I think all those things will add up and will continue to add up.”
Daboll put their relationship in terms perhaps even more simple than Nabers did.
“Throw him the ball,” he said. “Malik is a pretty easy guy to throw it to. Tommy will throw him the ball.”
Solid game plan.
As for DeVito’s swagger and energy, a big part of his game and an oft-cited reason given by the coaches and front office for this change, Nabers is impressed.
“A few people in the locker room, when the decision was made, they told me how he came in and did some great things last year when DJ was hurt,” Nabers said. “I’m hoping he can go back to the way he left off and continue to do what he’s done while around here.”
It’s possible but certainly unlikely that DeVito will be Nabers’ quarterback for the rest of the receiver’s time with the Giants, a tenure the team hopes extends for many years. Now that they are moving on from Jones — a decision fairly cemented by his emotional farewell address on Thursday — they’ll be in the market for a new franchise quarterback in the offseason.
For now, though, they have their first game together to focus on.
“My reaction was just rally around DeVito,” Nabers said of when he heard the announcement from Daboll on Monday morning. “It’s a new game, a new game plan . . . It’s his first time playing a game since last year, but support him, give him the confidence to go out and do what he knows how to do.”
And what he wasn’t able to do last time but will quickly learn to do this time: Get the ball to No. 1.
Said a smiling Nabers of that task: “I don’t think it’s real hard.”
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.