Giants draft Malik Nabers: NFL Draft profile, Fantasy Football & Dynasty outlook, full scouting report, more

The New York Giants selected wide receiver Malik Nabers with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Here's what you need to know about his Fantasy stock in both season-long and Dynasty formats.

Nabers' Fantasy fit with the Giants

It's not saying much, but Nabers is easily the most talented receiver to snag passes from presumed Giants starter Daniel Jones. The hope is that Nabers commands a slew of targets right away, giving him the chance to produce good numbers even with Jones' erratic play. One problem is that the Giants, under Brian Daboll, have spread the ball around; that would have to change. And Jones has been a nightmare year after year behind a bad offensive line; that would also have to change. Maybe there's potential for New York's offense to surge, but the more likely outcome is that the Giants struggle to light up the scoreboard and Nabers ends 2024 with eyes toward a massive second-year breakout. Nabers shouldn't be taken as a top-30 receiver in any seasonal format, winding up as a top-80-ish pick. 

Dynasty Outlook

Nabers should be a long-standing part of the Giants offense thanks to his speed, his physicality and his footwork, which has room to get even better. He should immediately be utilized as their alpha receiver with quality target volume. It helps that New York's offense is thin on skill-position talent, potentially making Nabers an over-targeted option early in his career. If he can establish himself as a rookie playmaker then he could carry that through his entire career. One issue for 2024 is the Giants QB situation, but that's a temporary problem. Eventually the G-Men will get a quarterback who can thrive with Nabers, and at that point he could be an outstanding talent. Of course, if they don't make that happen then Nabers' path to greatness could be narrowed. Ultimately expect Nabers to follow Marvin Harrison Jr. in virtually every single rookie-only draft you'll see this fall, which means he's probably the second man off the board in one-QB Dynasty and maybe as late as fifth overall in SuperFlex/two-QB.

Malik Nabers: What to know

Malik Nabers' football life started at the apartment complex he lived at in St. Martinville, La. Other parents would complain that Tonya Nabers' son played too rough with their kids in pick-up games. She took that as a cue to get him involved in organized football. Even when he was young he caught everything thrown his way. His uncle, Reginald Allen, saw Nabers' talent first-hand and told Tonya that she wouldn't have to pay for her son's college. Not long after, Nabers dominated for Ovey Comeaux High School not only on the gridiron, but also on the basketball court as a guard-forward. He caught 58 passes for 1,223 yards with 21 touchdowns as a junior. In the year after he transferred to Southside High School but was declared ineligible due to state rules. He spent the year practicing with the team, including working as a defensive end on scout team and hyping up Southside's crowd during games.

Long before he was ineligible, though, Nabers started getting attention from colleges. In fact he started getting offers after a 7-on-7 camp during his sophomore year of high school. By the time he was a senior nearly every major college football program had an offer in to Nabers, but Mississippi State wooed him early on, and he ultimately committed to them -- until the day of his announcement when he flipped to LSU so he could be closer to his mother. A year after that he was starting for the Tigers and went on to experience tremendous success, breaking out during his age-19 campaign and becoming the second-ever receiver in school history to post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, something Odell Beckham nor Jarvis Landry never did. Nabers wore No. 8 and has an eight-ball tattooed on his right knee.

Age as of Week 1: 21 | Height: 6-foot-0 | Weight: 200

Comparable body-type to: Rishard Matthews

We're breaking down everything you need to know about Nabers from a Fantasy manager perspective, including a scouting report, key stats and an NFL comparison.

Scouting report

Strengths

• Impressive thickness from his shoulders to his feet. Strong body helped him power through tackles and play through physicality.
• Long arms helped him reel in passes away from his chest.
• Lined up everywhere but did play in the slot a little bit more than out wide.
• Ran every basic route you could think of but specialized in go and hitch routes (over 100 of each in 2023; less than 40 of every other route). His stutter-go was lethal. He was automatic on motion-flare routes for short-yardage conversions.
• Exploded off the snap regularly and quickly gobbled up space against off-coverage to immediately put defenders behind the eight-ball.
• Tesla-like burst and acceleration made it borderline impossible for collegiate defensive backs to keep up with him. Not only would you see it within the first few steps of his route, but he blurs defenders out of hesitations and even after he stops. This was Nabers' primary way of separating from coverage.
• Not only among the fastest receivers in the class thanks to his very good speed, but also a fluid and smooth mover without much hitch in his form. Loose hips made his turns quick and agile. After-catch speed was a differentiator. A true thoroughbred.
• Footwork wasn't necessarily varied but the routines he typically had were clearly well-practiced and effective. Frequently used stutter steps to gain leverage on a defensive back playing man-to-man. Turned back to the quarterback in three steps using a similar method to Marvin Harrison Jr. by lowering his upper half to force momentum while taking a one-step lunge to plant and turn (and it took you longer to read that than it did for Nabers to actually make his turn). Reliably used fake jab-steps to get coverage to freeze or move in the wrong direction.
• Used his hands and upper-body strength deftly on comeback and in-breaking routes to not blatantly push off and help further separate from coverage.
• Tracked deep passes very well and was adept at making over-the-shoulder grabs. Was also very comfortable making receptions in tight spaces including when pressed between a defender and the sideline.

• Won on fade routes with solid timing to get his hands up at the last minute to reel in the ball while separating just enough to not get jostled by the defender 
• Good awareness to find space against zone coverage. Even better smarts to know not to quit on a play and find room to turn himself into the best target for his scrambling quarterback.
• Reliable hands -- five drops over 128 targets last year and four drops over 100 targets in 2022. Harrison and Nabers had the same total number of drops in the past two seasons and Harrison had a higher drop rate in 2023.
• Attacked passes on hitch and comeback routes and beat his coverage to the spot to snare the pass.
• When he did encounter grabby coverage he played through it without issue and wouldn't get bogged down by physical cornerbacks.
• Leaped high to make contested catches and will compete for 50-50 balls against cornerbacks, even if they're the same height.
• Reeled in a number of off-target throws, making him a reliable target even if the quarterback isn't precise.
• Didn't fear defenders in the least and consistently battled after the catch either to push for the extra yard or to escape a tackle for bonus yardage. Occasionally seen stiff-arm was particularly good for extending plays.
• Would often display terrific balance when encountering contact after the catch to keep him upright and moving for extra yardage.
• Frequently knew when to give himself up at the end of a play -- wouldn't sacrifice easy yards, either. Knew when to get down and preserve his body.
• Gave good effort as a blocker. Coaches will like his physicality.
• Athletic family: First cousin is LSU defensive back Jordan Allen.
• Not much in the way of reported injuries: Injured his left shoulder during a camp practice before his freshman year at LSU (his coach at the time blamed the injury for Nabers not breaking out until his sophomore season). Played through a right shoulder injury in 2023, briefly leaving the game against Mississippi State. Also missed practice leading up to their bowl game against Wisconsin but no reason was given.

Concerns

• Doesn't have prototypical height to be a complete receiver and will have his fair share of battles with players his size. His other traits make up for this.
• Rounded his cuts on in- and out-breaking routes and was saved by his speed and the off-coverage college cornerbacks gave him. He needs some refinement here and once he gets it he'll be even more dangerous.
• Made more than a fair share of body catches. There's plenty of evidence of him snaring passes with his hands away from his body, too, but body catches in college could become fumbles in the pros.
• Saw a ton of zone coverage because defenses didn't want to get beat by his deep speed, so there isn't much evidence of him getting pressed off the line. There is scant evidence of him being pressed and unable to escape tight coverage, but that doesn't mean he won't see more press coverage from NFL defensive backs. Nabers will need to develop traits to help him escape or overcome post-snap jams -- or he can keep lining up a yard behind the line of scrimmage and get constant free releases. This isn't a major concern.

Stats breakdown

Advanced stats to know

• Amongst the "big three" at receiver (Nabers, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze), Nabers had the highest catch rate (69.5%), the most Yards After Catch per reception (6.6 YAC/rec) and the most receiving yards per game (120.7, led the FBS) and the highest avoided tackle rate (a whopping 33.7%), albeit with the lowest ADOT (12.23). Nabers narrowly had the lowest yards per catch (17.6, 0.2 yards per catch behind Odunze and 0.5 behind Harrison) and trailed Odunze in explosive play rate by 0.1% (31.3%).
• In the red zone, Nabers snagged 9 of 19 targets (47.4% catch rate) for nine of his 14 touchdowns on the year. The nine scores were tied for seventh-best in the nation in red-zone touchdowns.
• Inside the 10-yard line, Nabers caught half of his eight targets, three for touchdowns.
• The good news is that Nabers improved on every one of the aforementioned metrics from 2022 to 2023, save for one: his catch rate was 72% in 2022.
• On throws under 10 Air Yards: Caught 51 of 67 targets (76.1%) for 528 yards (10.4 yards per catch) and four scores. His explosive play rate on those catches was 13.4%, and his avoided tackle rate was 37.3%. That's pretty good.
• On those intermediate routes (throws between 10 and 14 Air Yards): Caught 13 of 22 targets (59.1%) for 236 yards (18.2 yards per catch) and a score with a 22.7% explosive play rate and a whopping 6.0 YAC/reception. The explosive play rate was behind Odunze but ahead of Harrison; the receiving average was 4.4 yards per catch better than Odunze and 6.5 yards better than Nabers.
• On throws of 15-plus Air Yards: Caught 26 of 41 targets (63.4%) for 818 yards (31.5 yards per catch) and nine touchdowns. Nabers averaged 5.8 YAC/reception, which was lower than Harrison's by 1.4 yards but 1.6 yards better than Odunze. Perhaps most importantly, Nabers' catch rate outperformed the others in the "big three." And this was another area of improvement for Nabers, who caught 10 of 26 deep throws in 2022 with one score.
• Only 16 of his catches and 126 yards came on screens, flares or crossing routes at or behind the line of scrimmage.

NFL Comparison

It's tough to find a receiver who has the power and the acceleration of Nabers. But what if Steve Smith were three inches taller? With his speed, his acceleration, his power and his temperament, wouldn't he be a comparable version of Nabers? I think he would be -- and I think Nabers could be every bit as good as Smith, if not better.