Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers makes catches, shows fighting spirit
Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers catches a pass during a joint training camp practice with the Detroit Lions at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Tuesday. Credit: Ed Murray
Rookie receiver Malik Nabers has been everything the Giants hoped he would be when they drafted him with the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft.
On Tuesday, the rookie was ready for the fight.
Lions safety Kerby Joseph threw multiple punches at Nabers, this after Nabers pushed Joseph in the helmet on his way back to the offensive side following a one-on-one fade attempt against cornerback Terrion Arnold that fell incomplete.
Joseph responded with big swings to Nabers' helmet that sparked a full scuffle between the Giants offense and Detroit defense that players and coaches eventually broke up.
“It’s hot. We’re competing,” Nabers said after practice. “Stuff like that is going to happen. It’s football at the end of the day. That’s the competitor in me and Arnold, we talk almost every day about just competing, how great we want to be. So, it’s nothing against him. He’s my brother, so I’m going to give him the work he needs. He’s going to give me the work I need. But I was just tapping him on the helmet, good play. That’s all it was.”
After two days of joint practices, the teams will square off in Thursday night’s preseason opener at MetLife Stadium.
Asked what Nabers showed in the two days of practices against the Detroit Lions, coach Brian Daboll complimented the rookie receiver.
“He’s competitive," Daboll said. "Knows what to do. Been playing at a high level in practice.. “[We’ll] see if that translates to the games. I have a lot of confidence in Malik.”
Before the fisticuffs, Nabers was thriving against the Detroit secondary. He was targeted at least 10 times by quarterback Daniel Jones and made all but one of the receptions.
Nabers has, so far, met every challenge.
After he secured a 7-on-7 touchdown early in Tuesday’s practice, the Lions' defensive back came down on his shoulder. Nabers briefly went to the sideline, but was back on the field a few minutes later..
In team drills, Nabers then scored a touchdown on a great catch between two Lion defenders.
Before the fisticuffs, Nabers was thriving against the Detroit secondary. He was targeted at least 10 times by the quarterback Daniel Jones and made all but one of the receptions.
“I’m just out here trying to compete at the highest point, make plays when I got the opportunity, continue to show my coaches that I’m able to play in this league,” Nabers said. “I got nice, good work from these guys at Detroit. Just some great work of just not going against your teammates. You get to go against somebody else. Having that mindset of getting back into that football mentality, that was great.”
It was suggested that perhaps next time, if there is a next time, Nabers will forgo the throwing of punches.
“The game is fast. The game is fast,” Nabers said. “The level of competition is very high. That’s really about it. There are plays to be made when the ball is thrown in the air, and that’s it.”
Notes & quotes: Asked about WR Isaiah McKenzie, who played in Buffalo when Daboll was the Bills offensive coordinator, Daboll said: “He is an energy guy. He's an energy guy in the classroom, and he's a very good teammate. He knows how we want to play. He can play fast because he knows the system pretty well. He's going to have an opportunity to return punts, and that's going to be an important evaluation process for him. But he's been a good addition to that room and to the punt return room, so there will be some competition with [wide receiver] Gunner Olszewski. We’ll see how that competition unfolds.” . . . Detroit safety Brandon Joseph lit up Allen Robinson on a hit. Robinson was fine. He later made a touchdown catch . . . Defensive lineman Ryder Anderson had a sack . . . Andrew Thomas stuffed Aiden Hutchinson on a play . . . Backup QB Drew Lock found rookie Theo Johnson on a nice completion . . . Carter Coughlin, Evan Neal, and Jalen Mills were not dressed. Tight end Lawrence Cager (hamstring) and wide receiver Dennis Houston (hand) did not practice. Recently signed cornerback Christian Holmes also did not practice with an undisclosed injury. John Michael Schmitz did not practice but was in full pads.
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.
