Film Room: Malik Nabers, the complete package?

Breaking down what the first-round pick brings to the Giants

The New York Giants did not trade up, nor did they trade back; they sat at six and selected LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, who combines athletic traits with toughness and grit. The Giants have desperately needed a number-one receiving threat since Odell Beckham Jr. was traded to Cleveland.

Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney were acquired through different means, and neither yielded the desired results. Joe Schoen attempted to make tight end Darren Waller the de facto WR1 — or first passing option — and that did not work last season either. Now, however, Schoen and Daboll have added a player with elite upside and tantalizing traits.

Nabers did not test at the NFL Scouting Combine, but his Relative Athletic Score (RAS, Kent Lee Platte) Pro Day testing numbers were very similar to a current NFL great:

Here is my evaluation of Malik Nabers, along with a 25-or-so-minute film breakdown of what he offers the New York Giants:

Strengths

• Solid overall size and length
• Excellent fluid athlete with rare burst – definitely has bounce to him
• Excellent lower body explosiveness allows him to elevate and make high-point catches
• Has breakaway speed with rare acceleration – lightning-fast second gear
• Balanced and controlled athlete
• Possesses excellent agility and COD
• Lightning quick feet
• Evasive release – uses lateral burst to explode around jam
• Burst superiority allowed this to be successful in college
• Burst + dipped shoulder (flexibility)
• Rare squirt/burst release to create separation to the outside
• Can quickly create separation at the LOS
• Excellent route running upside – good use of micromovements to remain deceptive
• Quick and efficient on double moves – sells very well
• Showed ability to tempo routes well when necessary
• Highlight reel concentration and tracking ability
• Excellent spatial awareness to find the voids in zone or to work the sideline
• Man coverage nightmare up his stem
• Elite processing in the scramble drill to open throwing windows for his QB
• Short-area athletic ability, feet, and ability to quickly drop his weight and reaccelerate proved difficult for CBs to handle up his stem
• Quickly stops on a dime and presents his chest to the QB with full momentum on curls/comebacks
• Dominated on slot fades down in the red zone
• Does a phenomenal job adjusting to passes in his general orbit
• Is quick to adjust and give himself a realistic shot of hauling in inaccurate passes
• Excellent catcher of the football – can pluck away from his frame
• Soft hands that corral the football as he promptly gets north when necessary
• Solid strength through contact – can make catches in traffic over MOF
• Difficult for DBs to get their hands on directly after the catch – slippery from a stagnant position
• Stronger than one would think after the catch
• Runs through arm tackles and pin-balls off tackle attempts
• Frequently makes the first man miss or force that defender to create a rally tackle – not easy to locate and bring down
• Aligns all over the offensive formation
• Is a three-level impact receiver
• Solid overall blocker – will continue to push into contact
• Adjusts his blocks well when the ballcarrier bounces outside

Weaknesses

• Solid, but not elite-sized
• Lightning quick feet and lateral agility allowed him to defeat press, but a more developed release package would not hurt his game
• Would frequently opt to run around the jam vs. press rather than using his hands to mitigate the defender’s use of force; NFL DBs are likely to try and dictate at the LOS more aggressively
• Can iron out and maximize his skill set with more crisp/consistent routes
• Had 15 career drops – mostly concentration
• Not bad in contested catch situations, but wasn’t physically dominant either

Summary

Malik Nabers is a wildly agile route runner with elite flexibility and burst — a nightmare to guard in 1v1 situations. Everything Nabers does on the football field is sudden: his movements/release, how he can quickly explode out of his micro-movements to tie up defensive backs, and even how he secures passes and quickly finds the advantageous path to create YAC. Few receivers possess his level of twitch, with his bend/fluidity that allows him to sell or disguise breaks/cuts. His ability to keep cornerbacks guessing and on their toes (quite literally, in some cases) is one of the many reasons why he’s being discussed as a top-five pick.

Nabers is outstanding at creating yards after the catch, and he has the homerun ability to take a slant for six — similar to former LSU Tiger Odell Beckham Jr. — but there’s still plenty of meat on the bone of development for Nabers as a route runner. His route-running upside is immense for several reasons, but I wouldn’t say he’s consistently maximizing the leverage he creates or can create. He doesn’t always stack after winning with his lateral release method, and he sometimes rounds his breaks; it’s not the biggest deal, but it can be cleaned up.

His infrequency of battling press coverage with hands and physicality was tested against Arkansas in 2023. It didn’t matter much, as Nabers caught 8 passes for 130 yards with 2 touchdowns, but there was a coaching point for Arkansas to get on Nabers quickly at the line of scrimmage. Nabers also caught two curl passes while being harassed up his stem against Arkansas’ press. Despite this success, he has to prove and develop ways to defeat more physical press cornerbacks to scratch his immense potential.

Yes, he may lack a physically domineering element to his craft, but he’s not weak at the catch point, nor is he someone who falls upon contact. Nabers is quite annoying to bring down to the ground; surprisingly solid contact balance is combined with immediate acceleration that allowed him to rank in the top ten of all college receivers in YAC (589 yards).

Overall, Nabers would be the WR1 in many draft classes. Some argue that he is in this draft class. He’s a well-coordinated receiver who glides when accelerating and effortlessly adjusts to balls within his orbit. He’s smart, can create separation against any coverage, and he’s good at creating highlight catches and doing the dirty work over the middle of the field. His strong foundation of athletic traits will allow him to leap to the ceiling of his potential. He has a very bright future in the NFL.

Video breakdown: