Malik Nabers has been trending towards playing in Week 1, but the Giants’ star wideout may have thrown cold water on his readiness to take the field.
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“I’ve been wanting to play for so long now,”* Nabers said on Thursday (via SNY Giants). “At the end of the day, I can’t put my career at risk. I got to take that into account. There’s a lot of football that I still have left to play.”
The 23-year-old wideout has been a full participant in practice this week. He ramped up over the course of training camp from his 2025 knee injury that required multiple surgeries, including a clean-up procedure in April that created uncertainty about his Week 1 status. Updates out of New York have been increasingly positive over the last month, including one from head coach John Harbaugh this week.
“I think he’s ready to go,” Harbaugh said on Wednesday (via SNY’s Connor Hughes). The decision, however, will remain up to Nabers, he revealed on Thursday, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.
Nabers’ additional comments – “I t’s my life, it’s my career,”per Hughes – strongly suggests that he considering sitting out Week 1 in favor of his long-term health. In addition to raising Darnell Mooney’s workload – which was already set to increase following the surprising Darius Slayton release – Nabers’ absence would give either Odell Beckham or Malachi Fields a chance to start. Given Harbaugh’s long-held preference for veterans over rookies, Beckham would likely make his first start since 2023.