Giants' Malik Nabers 'excited' to play across the field from his former LSU QB, Jayden Daniels
Malik Nabers #1 of the New York Giants runs with the ball after making a catch during the first half against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife on Sunday, SEPT 8, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey Credit: Mike Stobe
A year ago, Malik Nabers was an LSU wide receiver catching passes from quarterback Jayden Daniels.
On Sunday, the two will be on the same field in Landover, Maryland: Nabers in a Giants uniform, Daniels in a Commanders uniform.
“I’m very excited to go against him this week,” Nabers told Newsday. “He’s the leader of his team, so I’m happy to play against my old teammate, see him on the different side of the ball and see how he’s able to play. He’s in a great spot, I’m in a great spot and we get to go against each other.”
Daniels won the Heisman Trophy last season and Nabers finished second to Marvin Harrison Jr. in the voting for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the best college receiver. The Commanders took Daniels second overall in April’s draft and the Giants selected Nabers sixth overall. If the Giants had their druthers — and a higher pick — they might have drafted Daniels.
Giants coach Brian Daboll definitely was a fan of the quarterback. In HBO’s “Hard Knocks” over the summer, when asked by general manager Joe Schoen about trading up for a quarterback, Daboll said, “Yeah, OK, let’s do it.” Ultimately, however, there wasn’t a deal to be made.
This past week, Daboll said of Daniels: “I think he’s a good football player. He’s athletic. He’s dynamic with the ball in his hands, whether it’s a passer or a runner. But again, this is more about the Washington offense in general . . . He’s a rookie quarterback that definitely did some good things that you saw from college on tape. He had 88 yards, 70 yards on scrambles, throws the ball well, but it’s more about getting ready to play their entire offense.”
In his NFL debut last week, a 37-20 loss at Tampa Bay, Daniels completed 17 of 24 passes for 184 yards and had a quarterback rating of 93.1. He also rushed for 88 yards and two scores on 16 carries.
Did Daniels look like a rookie?
“Looks like a good football player to me,” Daboll said. “I think he’s a good quarterback. I think they’ve got a lot of good pieces around him. [Commanders wide receiver Terry] McLaurin is an exceptional receiver with speed. Brian Robinson is a tough runner. They also brought in Austin Ekeler from Los Angeles. Again, it’s the biggest team sport there is, and that’s where we’ll focus.”
Nabers recalled the time he spent with Daniels at LSU. “Nothing came in an instant bond,” Nabers said. “[We got better] from working late nights in the LSU facility, with Daniels getting catches with all the receivers and running routes. Him taking us in the early morning to watch film. We had to create that bond. It didn’t come quick.”
But both players were determined to make it work.
“We spent that year playing with each other, in the summer and in fall camp, and we got to understand each other,” Nabers said. “He got to know how I run routes. I got to understand what he’s thinking when he gets up to the line of scrimmage. How does he read a defense? And just me understanding the plan of where he was going with the football.”
Nabers is still learning about the NFL game and what it takes to win. And, of course, he’s learning to play with a new quarterback in Daniel Jones.
Asked if his learning curve now is similar to what he experienced in college, Nabers said it is, but with a twist.
“You could say it’s the same,” he said. “But there’s a lot of funky coverages going on in the NFL, so you never know where the defense is going to end up. So it’s really hard to tell where we’re going with the football. Pre-snap, the ball goes one place, and when the ball is snapped, the defense can dictate something else. Just trying to figure it out, where [Jones] is going with the football.”
Nabers, Jones and the Giants did not start the season the way they wanted to, losing to the Vikings, 28-6, in the home opener. Nabers did have five receptions for 68 yards, the most catches by any rookie in Week 1.
“It’s really [about going] back to work,” he said. “That game is over with. The only thing we can do is try to get better. The only thing I can do is keep running every route full speed to get open and do my job.”
Nabers understands this about the NFL: “One game doesn’t determine how the season’s going to go. We’ve got a long ways to go and plenty more games to get this down, and I’m just going to keep on working with [Jones].’’
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
