Malik Nabers Is Already Elite

New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers entered the league with ludicrous expectations. With a natural comparison to Odell Beckham Jr., an argument to be the best receiver in a historic pass-catching class, and the burden of elevating a broken offense, the spotlight was instantly on the No. 6 pick.

Then he outperformed virtually every projection.

In his first month as a pro, he logged two 100-yard games. He missed two games with a concussion before returning to his massive role in the passing game.

By season’s end, Nabers received the second most targets in the sport (170), behind only Cincinnati Bengals dynamo Ja’Marr Chase, who won the receiving triple crown.

Subsequently, Nabers is a consensus top-10 receiver, presumably tasked with repeating his 2024 performance before being viewed as the same caliber of receiver as Chase and fellow LSU icon Justin Jefferson. However, there’s a real argument that Nabers is already one of the five best receivers in the sport, and the Giants star is poised to improve in 2025.

The biggest piece of that puzzle is, of course, an upgrade under center. Veteran Russell Wilson isn’t going to take home any hardware at the NFL Honors in February, but the jump from bad to average can be almost as significant as the leap from average to great.

Wilson has an effective deep ball and does his best work while distributing to the perimeter. Both of those marks mesh well with Nabers’ usage, and the quarterback’s early praise is a good sign for their budding connection.

Moreover, Nabers had historic usage for a rookie receiver. He was viewed as an elite receiver by head coach Brian Daboll, and each of New York’s passers seemed to agree. Better quarterbacking might lend itself to others receiving more targets. But Nabers is set to see far more efficient targets in his second season, allowing him to improve upon his 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns.

Nabers doesn’t have to see as many targets as last season to produce as much as he did in Year 1. Yet, Daboll’s willingness to funnel targets to him is emblematic of Nabers’ talent and the trust he’s earned.

There’s no reason why that’s going away any time soon. And as the Giants offense improves and there are more opportunities to score, there will be plentiful reasons to view Nabers for what he is—one of the best players in the sport.