Malik Nabers manages 7/111 in first McCarthy start

According to Hughes, “this is the player they targeted and wanted” as their quarterback the minute Jaxson Dart (knee) got hurt. Hughes acknowledges that coach John Harbaugh could eventually bench McCarthy later in the year, but it will take more than a bad “game or two” for that to happen. In the meantime, the weekly fantasy football outlooks for Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely are more volatile than they were with Jameis Winston at the helm. Selling high could make sense. Hughes adds that McCarthy would have to play like a top-10 quarterback to make the coaching staff consider him for the starting role next season. That outcome seems highly unlikely.

Nabers was once again heavily involved in the Giants’ passing game, getting the first offensive touch for New York. He saw 15 targets and tallied 165 scoreless yards on the day, with over half of this yardage coming with J.J. McCarthy in the fourth quarter. It’s the third straight 100-yard game for Nabers, who is now fully ramped up from his torn ACL last year. The Giants may be debating between Jameis Winston and J.J. McCarthy as the starting quarterback for next week. Regardless of the starter, Nabers sees enough volume to be a borderline WR1 for Week 7 against the Texans.

Nabers saw 15 of his targets come in the second half after the Giants opted to abandon a mostly useless ground game in a game they trailed for most of the afternoon. Nabers came up with multiple big plays as the Giants mounted their comeback attempt, with his biggest coming on a leaping 17-yard touchdown in the end zone to tie the game at 27-27 with under two minutes to go in the game. Nabers had a key drop on a screen pass in overtime that had a chance to set up a big gain, but he made up for it later in the game with a 28-yard gain as the Giants were trying to position themselves for a potential game-winning field goal attempt. Nabers has now gone for 100-plus yards in back-to-back weeks and has found the end zone in both of those games. He seems to finally be hitting his stride after a slow start to the season, and will profile as a high-end WR2 in next week’s game against the Saints.

It was presumed that Nabers would play after sitting out Wednesday with soreness in his surgically repaired knee. Though this is just our speculation, the Giants may take it easier on their star receiver this week after he hauled in 6/112/1 against the Cardinals in Week 4. He remains on the WR2 line in what has been (when not facing the Cardinals) a rough offense with Jameis Winston under center.

Nabers is currently going through route running drills with his position group, putting him on track to play in Week 5 against the Commanders. Nabers sat out yesterday, citing extra soreness in his surgically repaired knee, but told ESPN’s Jordan Raanan that he usually feels better as the week progresses. A WR1 finish is in play this week, assuming he is active. He was later listed as limited on Thursday.

Earlier today, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan reported that Nabers sat in the rehab section, speaking with the team’s head trainer during individual drills before seemingly going through some sort of rehab routine. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan then reported that Nabers said he was feeling “more sore than usual,” and “did as much as he could at practice.” When asked whether this could affect his ability to play in Week 5 against the Commanders, Nabers said, “we’ll see,” adding that it usually gets better as the week progresses. We tentatively expect Nabers to play, though this is worth monitoring closely.

Nabers’ first 100-yard game of the season almost didn’t happen after he re-injured his shoulder on a soaring first quarter reception, his first catch of the afternoon. He thankfully shook it off and went on to score his first touchdown, as well, a 25-yarder in the second quarter. He got matched up 1-on-1 with LB Mack Wilson, and Jameis Winston did not miss. It was a desperately needed outing for fantasy managers who were beginning to wonder if Nabers would even produce WR2 returns, let alone WR1. The top 12 is probably still a little far fetched, but this was an encouraging outing heading into next week’s road date with the Commanders.

The good news is that Nabers didn’t appear bothered by his shoulder injury and led the Giants with a 27 percent target share. The bad news is everything else. With Jameis Winston under center, the Giants took the air out of the ball and ran 33 times compared to just 22 pass attempts. Winston also stuck mostly to check-down duties, taking any chance of a big play for Nabers off the table. The Giants should be forced to throw more next week, but this isn’t going to be an exciting offense without Jaxson Dart under center. Nabers is likely stuck in the WR2 ranks for Week 4 versus the Cardinals.

It sure didn’t seem like he had great chemistry with Jameis Winston on Monday night, leaving Nabers feeling more like a mid-range WR2 than someone you’d really want to count on to carry you to victory in what will be a windy Week 3 game against the Titans. Still, he’s fully healthy and got in full practices in each of the last two days of the week to clear the injury report.

Nabers speaking to the media is likely also good news for his availability on Sunday. The 23-year-old wideout is practicing and upgraded to full today, so he’s likely to be good to go and has a chance at avoiding a questionable tag on Friday altogether.