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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — No matter how talented or good Giants rookie Malik Nabers might be, there is going to be a learning curve in Year 1.
He has now had a taste of what it’s like to go against the formidable cornerback duo of the New York Jets‘ Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed and Houston Texans‘ Derrick Stingley — in the span of four days. These are high-end players, the type of cornerbacks he is going to be facing on a regular basis in such a prominent role with the Giants.
Naturally, there are lessons to be learned and Nabers is getting a crash course in Advanced Placement Wide Receiving.
During Wednesday’s joint practices against the Jets, Nabers didn’t have his best day. His biggest blemish came when he allowed a deep ball from quarterback Daniel Jones to slip through his fingers in the rain during the Giants’ final drive. There was another play early in practice where a pass clanked off his leg.
“I had too many drops,” Nabers said of his day. “I had a lot of catches that could have been made on the field. You know, so that was about me.”
“I think if we finish that two-minute with a touchdown, we definitely feel different,” Jones said. “We all got to make plays. Stuff like that’s going to happen.”
“It bothered me pretty bad,” Nabers said of dropping the deep ball during the two-minute drill at the end of practice.
Nabers was critical of his own performance and admitted the Jets “won the day.” He had to watch Gardner shush the Giants’ sideline and taunt them off the field. Jones and the Giants’ offense hit on a bunch of short/intermediate passes but were unable to do anything downfield against the Jets.
The Giants clearly don’t view Nabers’ drops as a problem. Just part of the growth process.
They’re still going to target him consistently and are confident he will make enough plays if they do.
“I appreciate how hard he is on himself for a young player,” coach Brian Daboll said. “It’s not going to dissuade me or a quarterback from throwing to him.”
This is the difficulty that Nabers will face his rookie year. He is already the focus of the Giants’ offense — all three passes in live 7-on-7 drills against the Jets were thrown in his direction — and they need him to produce instantly in order to compete. This doesn’t provide him the luxury of playing behind another top player and slowly evolving into that No. 1 receiver role.
Nabers is going to have to learn on the fly, which means the natural ups and downs of a rookie will be on full display. His performance against the Texans in preseason action last week is the perfect example. He allowed a pass in the first quarter to hit off his right hand on a well-placed throw by Jones with Stingley in coverage. Nabers couldn’t get his left hand up to corral the ball because Stingley was busy tugging at it underneath.
It’s these little subtleties (like learning how to win those hand battles) that ultimately will make Nabers a better player in the long run.
The one-on-one matchup that was anticipated between Nabers and Gardner on Wednesday never really materialized. With neither team game-planning, Gardner remained at left cornerback for most of the practice. Nabers was all over the formations, sometimes in the slot but most often opposite Reed, who himself is a tough matchup. The rookie receiver did get one catch over the middle in 7-on-7 drills against the sticky Gardner.
These experiences should all be beneficial for Nabers as long as he learns from the tough competition.
“I’m not going to share all my key details, what I thought,” Nabers said of going against Gardner. “I’m just going to keep it to myself and continue to work on myself.”
It’s only a matter of time before they meet again. Nabers has the look of a receiver who will make an instant impact with the Giants, similar to what Garrett Wilson did with the Jets. Gardner, who the Giants loved in the 2022 draft before the Jets took him one spot ahead of their pick, has established himself as an All-Pro cornerback in his first two years.
Nabers has seemingly earned his respect.
“He nice,” Gardner said. “He’s very sudden, when it comes to getting in and out of his breaks. … He reminds me of an LSU receiver. A little Ja’Marr Chase. A little bit. A little Justin Jefferson. A little. Subtle. I’m not going to compare him to anybody because at the end of the day, he’s Malik. You don’t really want to limit anybody and what their potential is. Those are two guys that he reminds me of a little bit.
“He’s going to be a pretty good player.”
But what the past few days in AP WR class has shown is that he’s not all the way there — yet.