Giants camp: Brian Daboll let rookie WR Malik Nabers call his own number

By / / Sports / 6 minutes of reading


EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers hasn’t even finished his first week of NFL training camp, and his coach is already asking for his input on play calls.

During Friday’s two-minute drive at the end of practice, Giants coach Brian Daboll approached the No. 6 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft about what play he wanted to hear. Nabers asked for a go-ball.

Daboll dialed it up, and quarterback Daniel Jones then asked Nabers how he wanted the pass.

“Off, press. Just throw it up,” Nabers told his quarterback.

“Alright, I got you,” Jones told Nabers before the pair connected on deep reception down the right sideline.

 

“It shows how much trust they have in me,” Nabers said. “Wanting to give me the ball in open space and let me be me.”

GO DEEPER

If his Giants’ rebuild is going to work, GM Joe Schoen needs draft picks to thrive in 2024

Nabers’ reception illustrates why the Giants were so excited to draft the explosive playmaker out of LSU. And that Daboll asked for his input reveals both a level of trust the coach has in his rookie and how determined he will be to get Nabers the ball this season.

“His mentality is the mentality you need to have,” Daboll said Friday. “He’s humble, but he works extremely hard. We’ve moved him to a lot of places. I’d say for a young receiver, you often put (them) at one spot. So, it’s a credit to him and the amount of work he puts in.”

Despite the big catch, not everything has gone perfectly for the 20-year-old in his first professional training camp. He dropped a deep pass from Jones on a corner route in his first practice. Thursday, he was flagged for a false start in the red zone. On Friday, he tallied three receptions on seven targets with one of those misses coming in the end zone on a play he probably should have made. The throw was a little behind him, and cornerback Cor’Dale Flott (Nabers’ former LSU teammate) was in tight coverage, but the ball sailed through his hands.

 

One of the other incompletions intended for Nabers came against tight coverage from cornerback Deonte Banks. Nabers ran a fade down the left sideline, but Banks stayed with him step for step before the ball hit the CB in the back of the helmet.

Nabers and Banks, the Giants’ first-round pick in 2023, have been fueling each other in their one-on-one matchups.

“I love it,” Banks said Friday. “We are just competing. We talk to each other, and it’s really fun. He’s good. He’s really explosive. Real quick.”

While Banks got him on that first matchup, Nabers got the last laugh with the long reception.

Nabers has also been finding a rhythm with his fellow receivers, including veteran Allen Robinson, who has made it a point to try and mentor New York’s young receiving corps. During a Thursday film session, Daboll was going through a correction of a different receiver when Robinson interjected.

“‘Hey, Dabs, can you rewind that and just pause it for a minute?’” Daboll recalled Robinson asking. “He sat there for 30 seconds and just had a private conversation with Malik on a certain technique he saw.”

The 30-year-old Robinson said the conversation stemmed from a question he’d heard Nabers ask. Robinson tried to provide some clarity on how a receiver could view the play based on what the defensive back was doing. He also passed along some techniques Nabers could deploy in that situation.

“When I came into the NFL, we came in with a very young room, so I didn’t have a vet,” Robinson said of his early career in Jacksonville. “So for me being able to be that guy now who has 10 years under his belt in the NFL, being able to share as much knowledge as I can with some of the younger guys, what questions that they have. I always have an open forum.”

Expectations will be high for the rookie and the rest of the Giants receiver room, which includes Darius Slayton, Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt. Nabers gives the Giants an offensive threat they haven’t had since the Odell Beckham Jr. days, but with that lofty comparison comes not only the expectation that he will produce, but that his presence can elevate the production of those around him, too.

To meet those expectations, Nabers knows he has to remain in control of his emotions. Fans have been treated to an inside look into how the team came to draft Nabers on “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants.” Nabers has been a focal point of the series with episodes dialing in on the receiver’s fiery competitiveness.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Malik Nabers wants to ‘destroy you,’ and that’s why the Giants wanted him

“It’s something I have to pipe down a little bit,” Nabers said Friday. “Sometimes I might talk to myself, and I might go talk to Jalin, and (he’ll) be like, ‘Either don’t show it or just (move on to the) next play.’ Because … sometimes I might miss a ball … and I’d be like, ‘Damn, I missed that.’ … I want to go back in time and try to see if I can catch that kind of ball, but it’s the next play mentality.”

The most recent episode documented the pre-draft process with footage of a meeting wide receivers coach Mike Groh conducted with Nabers, along with fellow first-round picks Marvin Harrison Jr. and Rome Odunze, at the Giants facility.

After that meeting, co-owner John Mara asked Groh if he were on the clock now and had to pick among the three of them, whom would he select?

“I’d take Nabers,” Groh responded without hesitation.

Nabers hasn’t seen the episodes or that clip, but Nabers has equal conviction about his coach.

“Groh’s my guy,” Nabers said. “I guess when he watched my film, he saw how much athleticism I have, getting a ball in open space and I could be a great guy in this receiver room. To have that person as my receiver coach who trusts me before he even got me here, you know, the sky’s the limit for me.”

That certainly seems to be what the Giants believe, too.

Scoop City Newsletter

Scoop City Newsletter

Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.

Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.

Sign UpBuy Scoop City Newsletter

(Photo: Chris Pedota / NorthJersey.com / USA Today)





Source link

About The Author

Avatar of Eleanor Larson
Eleanor Larson is a writer for Kochify The News. She writes about politics, health, business, and finance. She has been a writer for over 25 years and is currently working on her second book.

Start typing and press enter to search

Scroll to Top