Malik Nabers already showing he’s the NY Giants alpha dog at receiver

It’s easy to get caught up in the early hype of training camp for teams. Yet, for the NY Giants, when you see Malik Nabers, people are seeing something special early on.

The Giants haven’t had a 1,000-plus wide receiver on the team since Odell Beckham Jr, which was why the need for drafting Nabers was a crucial one. During the filming of Hard Knocks: Off-season with the New York Giants on HBO, the sentiment was getting a weapon for Daniel Jones if he was returning as the starting quarterback.

So far, a couple weeks into training camp, we have seen why the Giants were so focused on getting Nabers, as he has looked every bit of the part of a high first-round pick wide receiver. With the Detroit Lions in East Rutherford for joint practices, Nabers has been putting on a show.

Malik Nabers is proving to be gold for the NY Giants

Some felt the Giants should have focused on getting a quarterback, such as Drake Maye. However, with the first three teams in the 2024 NFL Draft selecting the quarterbacks that were on Joe Schoen's radar, the next best thing the team did was focus on getting the player who had been on their radar for some time in Nabers. As we have seen early on during camp, Jones has been enjoying throwing to Nabers quite a bit:

During his final season at LSU, Nabers put up numbers that the Giants can only hope for with 89 catches for 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns. The last time any NY receiver put up something close to that was Beckham back in 2016, who had 101 catches for 1,367 yards and 10 touchdowns. Beckham was truly the last alpha dog receiver the Giants have had.

Granted, New York signed Kenny Golladay in free agency back in 2021 and drafted Kadarius Toney in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft with the expectation that they could change the Giants offense for the better, but neither worked out and neither are still on the team. Sure, the team still has Darius Slayton heading into his sixth season, plus Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt as well. But, there is clearly something different with Nabers. Maybe it’s the fact that he hates losing more than he likes winning, maybe it’s the “dawg” mentality he gave off, especially to Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Schoen in pre-draft visits.

That same “dawg” mentality is showing up on the field early on in camp. Nabers is getting most of the attention early on and has that superstar buzz about him, even before he has played a single regular season down for the Giants.

Of course, Nabers success is pending that Jones can stay upright and not on his back. So far, the offensive line in front of Jones has looked okay, as the Giants paid a lot of money in free agency to rebuild the entire offensive line with three new starters, plus getting a healthy Andrew Thomas back at left tackle. Focusing on the offensive line also meant sacrificing Saquon Barkley, but the focus of the Giants on offense seems to be getting away from the constant running attack it had with Saquon and will look to focus on throwing the football more with Nabers as the star attraction.

Again, none of what happens at training camp will matter once the Giants take the field in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. But then again, what’s the old saying? “You play like you practice.” If Nabers plays anything like we have seen at practice, the Giants may not only have that bonafide No. 1 receiver they've been looking for, but a sure-fire star on their hands, who could be a game-changer and game-wrecker for opposing defenses.