The New York Giants’ offseason moves at receiver have raised suspicions that Malik Nabers may not be ready for Week 1 as he continues to rehab from his second surgery on his injured knee.
However, general manager Joe Schoen told Jori Epstein of Yahoo! Sports he remains optimistic about Naber’s timeline and plans for the All-Stars to be on the field on Sept. 13 against the Dallas Cowboys.
“I still think he’ll be fine the first week,” Schoen told Epstein on Monday. “So we’ll see. He’s headed in the right direction. Again, these things take time, so it’s not instantaneous. Every patient is different.”
Nabers suffered a torn ACL in late September and had another clean-up procedure to remove scar tissue earlier this season. News of the second surgery dampened questions about Naber’s timeline during June’s practice.
Big Blue spent the off-season renovating the width of the room. Darius Slayton returns and the Giants added Calvin Austin III and Darnell Mooney early in free agency and drafted Malachi Fields in the third round. They recently signed a trio of pass rushers in Odell Beckham, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios (also a potential returner). The recent moves fueled speculation that Nabers might not be ready to face Dallas.
Schoen believes the collective receiver room can provide plenty of weapons along with tight ends Isaiah Likely and Theo Johnson.
“Do we have that true No. 1 alpha 22-year-old Malik Nabers out there if he’s not there? No, but I think there’s enough to be,” Schoen said. “There’s going to be good competition at receiver through camp, but there’s enough for me at the quarterback, the tight end position, there’s enough at receiver where we can move the ball and still be a productive offense — and it’ll be the cherry on top if Malik is out there.”
As we approach training camp at the end of July, questions will arise about how much Nabers can participate and whether he will indeed be ready for the start of the regular season. For now, Schoen isn’t upset about Nabers not participating in offseason workouts, even as the Giants install a new offense.
“If he’s ready in Week 1, you told me today, whatever it looks like between now and then, I don’t care as long as when we go against the Cowboys here he’s out there and ready to go,” Schoen said. “And if it’s not? Again, I think we bought enough insurance that we can still move the ball and be productive.”