Kadarius Tony. Kenny Golladay. Sterling Shepard. Richie James. Isaiah Hawkins.
At some point over the past few years, the New York Giants have asked these guys to bolster their receiving corps. Giants fans don’t need me to tell them that this team is hard to swallow.
Toney was a headache and the worst loss of the first round. Golladay was short-lived with the Lions, becoming one of New York's biggest free agents of the decade. Shepard's career with the G-Men started promisingly, but then began an injury journey that caused him to miss 34 games from 2019-22.
By 2022, James and Hawkins were starting and running routes for this team, which made the playoffs despite being so ineffective passing the ball. Neither man is currently on an active NFL roster.
Putting aside Darius Slayton — a solid option who has led the Giants in receptions four of the last five years and doesn't deserve the same derision —this It's the guy Daniel Jones keeps throwing to.
So while the debate about Jones himself continues, everyone can admit that Malik Nabors is a breath of fresh air and a superstar in the making compared to his predecessor. Nabors, the sixth overall pick out of LSU, had a heroic performance last week with eight catches and two touchdowns in New York's 21-15 win over Cleveland. among the list.
The Giants haven't had a 1,000-yard receiver since Odell Beckham Jr.'s final season with the Giants in 2018. We are more than a quarter of the way to this milestone. He is the first player in NFL history to have 20 receptions and three touchdown receptions in his first three career games; he ranks fifth in the league in yards (271) and ranks fifth in receptions (23). Second in the league and first in goals (37).
Yes, Jones found a receiver he liked and started throwing passes to him. Reporters started asking if the Giants needed to spread the ball better to make it less predictable. But what do you expect them to do — bring Hawkins back from the practice squad and start forcing the pass rush?
“I think he's confident in his skills,” Coach Brian Daboll comments on Nabors. “I'm confident in his skills. We spent a lot of time with him before the draft and then you really got to know him through OTAs, minicamp and training camp, and he excelled in those areas. So, I think we had a pretty big target on him, but I think he deserves it.
Something Giants fans should be excited about, and certainly not a given, is Nabors' obvious mental toughness. In Week 2 against Washington, he threw a crucial fourth-down pass that clinched the game-winner for the Commanders. That didn't stop him from bouncing back against the Browns.
Daboll also praised the way Nabors knocked down an errant pass to prevent a potential interception in the fourth quarter against Cleveland.
“That game said more about Malik to me than some other things,” Daboll said. “Everybody could see the touchdown, but his unselfish play, his smart play, it was a big play in the game. Huge.
Whether the Giants should keep Jones at quarterback in the short or long term is another question entirely. But it’s no exaggeration to say that Nabors has the makings of a Justin Jefferson who excels no matter who throws the ball. Or perhaps a more appropriate name would be another former LSU star – David Beckham.
Just don't let Jack from State Farm get anywhere near him. I'm tired of those commercials, but even I have to admit that “like a good Nabors, State Farm is there” is right there for filming.