Giants' Malik Nabers injury situation is weird and problematic

The New York Giants can't really afford to spend much of this season without Malik Nabers.

They let Wan'Dale Robinson leave for the Tennessee Titans, and the WR depth chart behind Nabers isn't quite filled with in-their-prime standouts.

"For depth, the Giants have added tons of veteran dart throws -- Calvin Austin III, Darnell Mooney, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Braxton Berrios and even Odell Beckham Jr. -- in the hope that someone will be able to fill Robinson's snaps," ESPN's Ben Solak wrote as part of a new article on Tuesday. "If Nabers has to miss regular-season time, the Giants' receiving core might be one of the oldest and least effective in the league."

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So that's where the problem comes in: Nabers' recovery from his season-ending knee injury hasn't been as straightforward as everyone would've expected.

This is how Solak explained it in his article on Tuesday:

No injury has made more offseason headlines than Nabers'. The Giants' star receiver tore his right ACL in Week 4 of the 2025 season and underwent surgery to repair the ligament, as well as the damage to his meniscus, a month later. But this past spring, Nabers had to undergo a second procedure on the same knee -- a sign that his recovery was likely not going well.

During mandatory minicamp, new coach John Harbaugh called the injury "not a simple knee" and said the goal was for Nabers to "get out there sometime in training camp." But any sort of delay in training camp could indicate a more complicated recovery than anticipated.

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It essentially seems like more has gone wrong than people anticipated.

Nabers can put a lot of worry to rest quickly by just showing up and participating at training camp.

But if the Giants are being particularly cautious with him as the season approaches, it'll definitely raise alarm bells about how he's really doing.

The Giants have Jaxson Dart entering his second season, and things would look much more ideal for the offense with Nabers on the field. It's just not a certainty right now that he will be.

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