MalikNabers

News: 10 hours agoGiants head coach John Harbaugh said after Tuesday's practice that Nabers (knee) will need to take contact before getting cleared to play Week 1 against the Cowboys, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post reports. "He won't go through the rest of the summer in a red [no-contact] jersey," Harbaugh said. "He's going to have to get bumped around and hit and fronted up. You just have to feel that and know how to deal with it to protect yourself."

Spin: Nabers cleared a major hurdle in his recovery from a torn ACL by taking part in team portions of practice Monday and Tuesday, though he donned the red jersey on both days. Harbaugh noted that Nabers responded well to increasing his overall number of reps from Monday to Tuesday, and the third-year wideout should see his workload gradually increase as the start of the regular season draws closer. The Giants are unlikely to clear Nabers to play in either of their final two preseason games, but assuming he ditches the no-contact jersey at some point during Week 1 prep (or before then), he's expected to be available for the regular-season opener.

ESPN Fantasy Projection: Nabers is on the comeback trail after a torn ACL limited him to only four appearances last season. In 18 full games in his career, Nabers has a massive 35% target share (11.3 per game) and he's averaging 18.2 fantasy PPG. As a rookie, the 2024 sixth overall pick finished seventh or better among receivers in targets, receptions, yards and fantasy points despite missing two games and dealing with New York's offensive struggles. Nabers' massive target share allowed him a high floor, as he was a top-30 fantasy scorer in 13 of 15 games, including 10 straight to end the 2024 season. He essentially has a new quarterback (Jaxson Dart threw only three passes his way last season), a new coach (John Harbaugh), a new offensive playcaller (Matt Nagy) and is recovering from the knee, so there are a lot of variables here, but the 23-year-old still holds elite upside. A healthy Nabers should be valued as a mid-to-back-end WR1, but the potential for a slow start (perhaps including missed games) needs to be considered on draft day.