The Giants moved up 31 spots in the third round of April’s draft to take Malachi Fields, sending the Browns picks 105 and 145 plus a 2027 fourth-rounder to get him. Two months later, the 6-foot-4, 218-pound rookie was running with the first team in mandatory minicamp.
Veterans report to The Greenbrier on July 28 into a receiver room that looks crowded on the depth chart and thin in practice. Malik Nabers is expected to open camp on the physically unable to perform list, and Darius Slayton is working back from core-muscle surgery that erased his spring. The reps Fields has been getting were not a developmental courtesy.
The trade-up cost says the Giants had conviction
Malachi Fields catching a pass before joining the Giants
Credit: Edward Finan-Imagn Images
Joe Schoen surrendered three picks to move to No. 105 for a receiver most boards had going later, which is an aggressive price for a Day 2 pass-catcher on a roster that had already signed Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin III, and Isaiah Likely as a pass-catching tight end in free agency. Fields finished his college career with 165 receptions for 2,479 yards and 16 touchdowns across four seasons at Virginia and one at Notre Dame.
Fields started all 12 games for Notre Dame in 2025, finished second on the team with 630 receiving yards and five touchdowns, and led every FBS player with at least 10 catches at 17.5 yards per reception. He had already produced an All-ACC third-team season at Virginia the year before with 55 catches for 808 yards. Vertical production out of a body that plays like a possession receiver is the specific combination the Giants have lacked outside of Nabers, and the transfer year is what made scouts believe it.
Season School Rec Yards TD Yds/Rec
2024 Virginia 55 808 5 14.7
2025 Notre Dame 36 630 5 17.5
The one number that got him first-team reps
Malachi Fields, giants, Syndication: South Bend Tribune
Credit: MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Fields dropped a single pass on 63 targets in 2025, a 1.6% drop rate, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. Reliability at the catch point is the fastest way for a rookie receiver to earn a coordinator’s trust, and it stands out in a Giants offense that has spent two years watching balls hit the ground. Theo Johnson has led all NFL tight ends in drops across his first two seasons, per PFF, and Slayton was charged with six drops of his own in 2025.
Jaxson Dart found Fields for a one-handed grab during OTAs that circulated widely, but the more useful data point is volume. A Day 2 rookie receiving consistent first-team work in June, with the WR1 rehabbing and the highest-paid holdover on the mend, is a staff telling you where it expects to land.
The room is deep on paper and unavailable in practice
Malachi Fields works during Giants minicamp drills
Credit: Credit: Thomas Salus-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
Nabers is the unquestioned No. 1 once healthy, and the torn ACL and meniscus he suffered in Week 4 of 2025 required a follow-up cleanup procedure this spring. John Harbaugh has said Nabers will work his way into practice one way or another, which is a long way from a full camp of chemistry-building with a second-year quarterback.
Behind him sit Mooney, Calvin Austin III, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Beckham on a $1.3 million veteran-minimum deal, and Jalin Hyatt fighting for a helmet. Slayton carries a $15.25 million cap charge into a season where he has to prove the vertical role still belongs to him. Every one of those names is either older than 27, coming off surgery, or on a one-year audition. Fields is the only one on a four-year rookie contract the Giants control through 2029.
What camp actually has to answer
Fields has not faced NFL press coverage, and the knock on his college tape was separation against physical corners rather than anything at the catch point. Padded practices at The Greenbrier against Paulson Adebo and Greg Newsome will tell the staff more in a week than the entire spring did.
Matt Nagy needs an outside receiver who can win a contested throw on third down while Nabers ramps up. The Giants spent three picks to move up for one.
Now they get to find out if they solved the problem before they had it.
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Anthony Rivardo is the COO of Empire Sports Media and the host of Fireside Giants, a New York Giants ... More about Anthony Rivardo