In a lost season, the Giants need to make sure they don't lose a reliable player in 2025 to prevent something like this from happening again.
The most talented and important of these players is Malik Nabors, who is doing a lot of good things.
But what's expected of him is greatness, to make some of that long-awaited magic happen in an offense that's more bland than wheat germ and as exciting as a documentary about the making of a documentary. , he has five games left.
Nabors has been slowed by his surroundings in the NFL's lowest-scoring offense as the Giants (2-10) look to close out Sunday's game against the Saints at MetLife Stadium. The numbers were not great. After a seven-game losing streak, this was their first win at home with a record of 0 wins and 6 losses.
Nabors has had to deal with a new issue with a torn hip flexor, which puts his ability to play in question.
The Giants need him.
He led the team in receptions (75), receiving yards (740) and touchdown catches (3), a strong showing in a rookie season filled with football despair.
“So there's always something more to me,” Nabers said. “I feel like I could do something great right now. Is it going the way I thought it would? No, it's not. But I'm still working to bring it out. We have a better plan for you, just follow the steps.”
The progress of the team and the young players was at a standstill, and both expected a lot.
In his first four NFL games, Nabers had 35 receptions and three touchdowns, averaging 11 yards per catch and 4.5 yards after the catch.
In six games since missing two games with a concussion, Nabers has 40 receptions, no touchdowns, averaged 8.9 yards per catch and just 1.9 yards after the catch.
Where are the amazing, amazing, and mysterious things?
This is one of the most obvious dysfunctions in the passing game, the inability of Nabers to get the ball with room to run.
He usually gets open, catches the ball with his back to the defense, and gets tackled.
The diagonal route is dead and the go route is not participating in the attack.
“It just attracts attention,” Nabers said. “So they're looking at what routes I'm running. It's the 12th game of the season. Everybody watches film. They rallied around the football and got me on the ground. That's what football is.”
That wasn't the case when I was in college.
Nabors averaged 17.6 yards per catch in 2023 and nearly 16 yards per catch in 38 games at LSU.
One of the main reasons the Giants were attracted to him was his explosive big-play ability.
As long as there is improved play from a new quarterback, it's hard to imagine he can't reach that level in the NFL as soon as next season.
Nabors is on pace to surpass Odell Beckham Jr.'s 91 catches as a rookie in 2014.
However, Beckham averaged 14.3 yards per catch and scored 12 touchdowns.
Having Eli Manning at quarterback instead of Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito or Drew Lock made a big difference.
Nabers is trying to make adjustments to free himself and give himself room to maneuver.
“I'm trying to turn my head faster after I catch the ball,” he said. “I'm just trying to feel out the defender even faster than I've ever been before. That's really it.”
Nabors' first-year experience should be taken seriously, although some head-scratching comments in the media scrum that were born out of frustration in the immediate aftermath of the defeat and did not make it clear exactly what he meant made headlines. It shouldn't be, or should be heavy at all.
If everyone around him took losing as hard as he does, the Giants would be better.
Plus, he's 21 years old.
The team's lack of success and lack of big plays shouldn't overshadow an impressive NFL debut.
Nabors is already the first player in NFL history to have five or more receptions and 50 or more receiving yards in nine of the first 10 games of his career.
Nabers is on pace for 112 receptions, which would surpass the Giants rookie record of 91 shared by Beckham and Saquon Barkley.
Amidst all the losses, much has been achieved.
But it's not enough.
