Big Blue View
He’s actually no different from many great wide receivers
Almost halfway through the season, New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers has a case to be made as the best player to come out of the 2024 NFL Draft, although his former LSU teammate Jayden Daniels probably has the inside track on Rookie of the Year because quarterbacks trump all other positions in value. He’s second only to another former LSU teammate, Brian Thomas Jr., in receiving yards among NFL rookies despite playing two fewer games (man, was that 2023 LSU offense something). He’s also 15th among all receivers.
The only chink in the Nabers armor is the increasing perception that he has a drop problem. It first surfaced in the training camp joint practice with the Jets, when he had several drops, including one that might have gone for a touchdown. He had one in Week 1 vs. Minnesota. Then in Washington in Week 2, with the game tied at 18 with two minutes left, Nabers dropped Daniel Jones’ fourth-down pass at the 11-yard line, a play that might have led to a Giants’ victory (“might” because they had no kicker):
On Monday night in Pittsburgh, after returning from a concussion, Nabers had two more drops, including this one:
That’s four in six games, and it has the Giants’ Twitterverse mumbling. Does Malik Nabers actually have a drop problem?
“As a receiver, you’re going to drop the ball,” Nabers said on Thursday. “You don’t want to drop the ball. There are some people that are better at catching the ball than others. But when you drop the ball, you just got to flush it and go back to the next one.”
Unlike stats such as touchdowns and receiving yards, a “drop” is a value judgment. Everyone defines it as a catchable pass that is not caught, but “catchable” is in the eye of the beholder. For example, Pro Football Reference charged Nabers with a drop in Cleveland as well that Pro Football Focus did not. Still, a rate of almost one drop per game isn’t good, right?
Not necessarily. Here are the NFL leaders in drops for the 2023 season:
If Nabers winds up being in the company of the likes of Puka Nacua, Tyreek Hill, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Stefon Diggs, and Davante Adams, that’s not something to lose sleep over.
Here are the top 20 drop leaders for 2024 to date:
Again, you have names such as Amari Cooper, Jaylen Waddle, Garrett Wilson, DK Metcalf, George Pickens, fellow top 10 rookie Marvin Harrison Jr., and Brandon Aiyuk. (Darius Slayton, too.)
Why do so many elite wide receivers have so many drops? It’s pretty simple. The best receivers see the ball come their way a lot. Nabers (73 targets) has been targeted more than any other receiver in the NFL except Garrett Wilson this season. A better indicator, then, would be drop percentage, which is shown in the column next to drops above. Anything below 10% should probably...
