The New York Giants selected wide receiver Malik Nabers with the sixth selection of the 2024 NFL Draft. It was a great pick, as we all saw what kind of ceiling he had in his rookie year, and without this devastating injury in his sophomore campaign, it might have been a much different outcome last season.
Looking back at that 2024 NFL Draft, and the redraft of it, there is one clear message that should be shouted from the rooftops. Nabers might have been the second wideout drafted that night, but he has made a solid point that he should have been the first one taken.
Giants' Malik Nabers has separated himself from Marvin Harrison Jr.
The first wide receiver taken in the 2024 NFL Draft was Marvin Harrison Jr. by the Arizona Cardinals. What looked like a slam dunk for the former NFC East rival turned into an absolute mess as quarterback Kyler Murray actually got worse with a supreme talent like Harrison Jr.
Nabers had a phenomenal 2024 season and was starting to really click with Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart in 2025. Before his knee injury, No. 1 had 18 catches for 271 yards and two touchdowns. That was only in four games.
Keeping with that pace, and assuming that he and Dart did not get any more chemistry with each other than what was already established, Nabers would have had 1152 yards on 77 catches and nine touchdowns. Not a bad haul for a full sophomore season.
The debate between the top two receivers in the 2024 NFL Draft class is over. Nabers has shown a more complete package than Harrison Jr., and it really has to do with how they are being used. Harrison Jr. was put into that system as a main focus, but the execution was not there, and it won't be coming any time soon with Jacoby Brissett tossing the pigskin out there in Arizona.
Nabers has a more consistent and uplifting situation, barring any setback due to this injury. If he cannot get healthy enough to lace them up by week one and misses time, the gap between the two wide receivers gets a little closer. Same goes if Nabers cannot have the same kind of impact with route running and top-end speed that we saw prior to the ACL and meniscus tear in his right knee.
The Giants were lucky enough to have Nabers fall to them as the second receiver taken in that draft. It seems like they have gotten the best of the bunch.
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