Big Blue View
Is Nabers the receiver for the Giants?
LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers should be a very familiar name at this point. He’s been featured at the top of pretty much every mock draft of the 2024 NFL Draft cycle. He’s also been the player most commonly mocked to the New York Giants at sixth overall.
He’s one of the most explosive offensive players in the draft, highly productive, and plays a position that’s commonly cited as the Giants’ greatest weakness. It seems like a natural fit.
So what does Nabers really bring to the table, and is he the right receiver for the Giants?
Prospect: Malik Nabers (8)
Games Watched: vs. Florida State (2023), vs. Missouri (2023), vs. Auburn (2023), vs. Alabama (2023)
Malik Nabers is an explosively athletic and versatile receiving prospect.
Nabers has a versatile frame at 6-foot, 199 pounds, with 31 ⅜ inch arms and 9 ⅞ inch hands. He played all over the LSU offensive formation, lining up on the line of scrimmage as an “X” receiver, off the line as a “Z” or “flanker”, in the slot, in bunch formations, and was also put in motion. Nabers is a reliable possession target who can pick up the first down, is a dangerous deep threat when he gets behind the defense, and is an excellent ball carrier in space.
He runs a fairly diverse route tree and shows a good understanding of his role within route concepts. Nabers also has very good field awareness and does a great job of getting vertical and finding open space in scramble drills. That trait also comes to the forefront against zone coverage, where he shows a good understanding of coverage responsibilities and how to settle into the voids between defenders.
Nabers has strong hands and is generally reliable as a pass catcher. He does a good job of locating the ball and tracking it in the air. Likewise, he has very good body control and makes the subtle adjustments necessary to haul in passes along the sideline or maximize receiving windows.
Nabers’ play strength, ability to deal with physical coverage, and win in close quarters is a question.
Nabers is not a particularly powerful receiver and isn’t going to bully bigger cornerbacks at the line of scrimmage or the catch point. On the flip side, Nabers appears to struggle against physical coverage himself. He can be moved off his routes by press coverage and he has too many drops in contested catch situations.
LSU went to some length to hide Nabers from physical press coverage. He frequently played him off the line of scrimmage, allowing him to use his athleticism rather than face jams head-on. He was also put in pre-snap motion behind the offensive line, denying the defense the chance to be physical with him. This is, of course, an increasingly...
