EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was the last question for rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers after his team had just lost its seventh straight game. A reporter asked what he needed to do in order to clean up the drops that had been plaguing him this season.
Nabers had two passes he should have caught fall to the ground in a 27-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving. According to NFL Next Gen stats, Nabers is tied for second in the NFL with eight drops.
“I don’t care about drops,” Nabers said afterwards. “It’s part of football. I don’t care if I drop the ball six times, keep throwing me the ball.”
The postgame press conference in front of his locker at AT&T Stadium ended on that eye-opening note. It read worse than it sounded. It was the cherry on top of a rookie season that has become increasingly more frustrating.
Only one week earlier, Nabers was critical of not receiving a single target in the first half of a 30-7 blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He called the team’s effort “soft as f—.”
Nabers may have the most catches (75) of any receiver through 10 games in his NFL career, but he’s averaging 3.1 yards after catch. That’s good for 61st out of 80 qualifying wide receivers. He’s also second among all players with 117 targets, despite missing two games.
Nabers said on Wednesday his point on the drops was that, if it happens, he can’t dwell on the mistake. He needs to keep moving forward.
“I mean, Malik’s a competitive young man,” coach Brian Daboll said. “I think having the next-play mentality is something that we preach. I also think that he wants to make every play that comes his way.”
Veteran wide receiver Darius Slayton thought that Nabers was “coming from the right place.” He explained this all isn’t easy coming to New York from college at LSU where he was able to do whatever he wanted on the field. Slayton said in a way, it’s a culture shock.
Still, it’s the second straight game that Nabers’ postgame comments raised some eyebrows. A rookie, albeit the sixth overall pick this year, isn’t generally so outspoken.
Nabers explained last week this is part of the package. He’s part of the team and isn’t just going to sit back because he’s a younger guy. In fact, he said the Giants want him to speak up. They want him to be part of the solution, to bring energy to their moribund offense.
The Giants (2-10) enter Sunday’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints (1 p.m. ET, FOX) last in the NFL at 15.3 points per game. Nabers status is uncertain after he popped up on the injury report Thursday with a recurring groin injury. He was a limited participant in practice.
Clearly, Nabers isn’t the team’s biggest problem. The Giants benched and cut their starting quarterback in the past two-plus weeks. They’ve since started Tommy DeVito and Drew Lock. They’re also onto their fourth and fifth offensive tackles.
Nabers is their best and most explosive playmaker, just as they expected when they made him their top pick earlier this year. But it all hasn’t been smooth sailing since his arrival.
After a torrid start to the season, Nabers suffered a concussion in a Week 4 loss to the Cowboys. It forced him to miss two games. At the time, he was leading the league with 35 receptions. He was second with 386 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He was averaging a healthy 96.5 yards per game and 4.5 yards after catch.
Nabers is averaging just 59.0 yards per game and 1.9 yards after catch since returning from the concussion. He hasn’t scored a touchdown. The rookie receiver attributes it to the increased attention and more detailed scouting reports on his game now that he’s 13 weeks into his professional career.
“I’m trying to get my head around quicker after I catch the ball,” he said. “Just trying to feel the defenders even faster than I have before. And that’s really it.”
It’s all part of the learning curve. But so is controlling his emotions and how he carries himself. Part of that is saying and doing the right things. That’s on Nabers and the team.
Former Giants receiver Amani Toomer, the leading receiver in franchise history, doesn’t like the way Nabers is being handled.
“The way they’re bringing him in and the way they’re just throwing him the ball and letting him say whatever he wants to say, I’ve seen this happen before. It happened with Jeremy Shockey. They let him do whatever he wanted to do and it didn’t end well,” Toomer said during Sunday’s ‘NY Gameday’ on ESPN New York radio. “And when he starts dealing with real issues that most of the NFL deals with … He didn’t get the ball in the first half? Big wah! Be a man and get ready when your number is called.
“I think he’s being brought into this league totally wrong. Totally wrong. They’re just catering to this guy. Letting him say whatever he wants. It just doesn’t turn out well when you give young players too much, when you cater to them like they’re in college. It just doesn’t work out.”
The natural comparison is Odell Beckham Jr., the same player Nabers bested for the most receptions (75) through the first 10 games of a career. Beckham, also an LSU product, was a star, but eventually everything fell apart in New York. It’s what the Giants don’t want to happen with Nabers.
There have been no known repercussions for any of Nabers’ postgame comments. Daboll said recently that he has “good, open conversations” with players when dealing with these types of situations. It’s Daboll’s style to say very little publicly and deal with it behind closed doors. It has been met with mixed results.
The Giants are hoping it works with Nabers. At the very least, he claims to have learned a lot about himself during this up-and-down rookie season.
“Just focus on more things you can control — my emotions, how I carry myself, character,” said Nabers. “So yeah, even though these things have been going down, how can you look at yourself in the mirror and just try to find a way for you to help the team out; Help the team figure out how to win and just like I said, focus on your character. You can’t really do anything about it now. The record is the record, but you can still focus on moving forward.”
