By and large, the New York Giants have handled Malik Nabers’ prolonged rehab as best as possible.
At no point did the Giants force Nabers into any type of offseason workouts amid his recovery from last year’s knee injury. There were also no credible reports about John Harbaugh and the new staff being overly concerned about a setback earlier this year.
With Week 1 just over a month away, all signs point to Nabers playing against the Cowboys on Sept. 13. He’s been a limited participant in training camp, but at least he’s out there in a helmet and jersey.
The color of the jersey he’s been wearing, though, is a problem. According to the New York Post, Nabers isn’t wearing a red non-contact jersey during practice.
Why aren’t the New York Giants having Malik Nabers wear the non-contact jersey?
The alarm button briefly sounded during Thursday’s practice when Nabers reportedly bumped into safety Tyler Nubin, though both emerged unscathed.
Just because teams no longer do two-a-days or the old-fashioned training camp routine doesn’t mean that practices can’t get physical. We’ve already heard about numerous altercations leaguewide, including Friday’s incident between Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby at Raiders camp. Even the Giants saw it firsthand with Jaxson Dart and Greg Newsome.
Tempers flare up this time of year even among established veterans, and anger and frustration often turn into a slightly late hit or a tackle that was harsher than it needed to be.
Why, then, would the Giants even bother to play with fire and not have Nabers in a non-contact jersey? Having him participate in practices with the starting offense is one thing, especially with a new offensive staff, and it wouldn’t raise too many red flags on its own.
But to have Nabers operate under a mixed workload, where he’s not a full participant but is involved in contact plays, is nonsensical, and you’d think that John Harbaugh would know better.
Keep in mind that the Giants’ receiving depth is so weak that they signed three free agents — Odell Beckham Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Braxton Berrios — when the calendar turned to June. Those moves followed the offseason arrivals of Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin III, and Malachi Fields.
For a little bit, it appeared as if Darius Slayton would be the only returning receiver all but guaranteed to play in Week 1. Nabers has made enough progress to temporarily alleviate those concerns.
On one side of the coin, Harbaugh deserves the benefit of the doubt after nearly 20 seasons with the Ravens. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is as experienced as they come, and both come from the Andy Reid tree. We can say whatever we want about the Chiefs, but Reid has mostly kept them afloat regardless of injuries or off-field issues.
Still, it’s hard not to be concerned, if only because Nabers’ presence could go a long way in Dart’s development and potentially help the Giants take advantage of a winnable division.
But as of now, it appears that Nabers won’t play in the preseason, so that’s enough of a victory given the context.
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