General Manager Joe Schoen said this week that the Giants expect Malik Nabers to play in the season opener on Sept. 13. Coach John Harbaugh sounded less definitive, saying he is “hopeful” the wide receiver will be back “soon.”
Nabers didn’t participate in the Giants’ mandatory minicamp as he continues his rehab from a torn ACL that required a second surgery to remove scar tissue.
“He said his plan is to be here most of the time, almost all the time he’ll be here, I believe,” coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “I don’t think he will be here all the time. He’s going to be here a lot, working really hard. He’s making really good progress right now. I’m very hopeful that he’ll be back soon.
“Also, understand when you come back from a knee, he’ll be back, and he’ll still be building his way back to his ultimate full-strength self. But he’s doing great. He’s doing a great job. He’s made some real good progress in the last few weeks.”
Nabers tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 4 against the Chargers and underwent surgery Oct. 28. The second surgery this offseason was a cleanup surgery after Nabers was experiencing stiffness.
Harbaugh has said that Nabers’ knee injury was “not simple.”
It seems likely that Nabers will start camp on active/physically unable to perform as his rehab continues.
“It’s a slog; it’s a grind. He’s still in the middle of it,” Harbaugh said Wednesday. “He’s probably not in the middle of it now. He’s probably maybe 70 percent through. I don’t know, something like that, 80 percent through.
“He’s still grinding. It’s going to be a grind when he starts playing again, too, to get back right.”
Giants Clips
Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers had surgery in October to repair his torn ACL, then had a second surgery this offseason to remove scar tissue. But the Giants still believe Nabers will be good to go for the season opener.
Giants General Manager Joe Schoen said this week that Nabers should be on the field on September 13, when the Giants host the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
“I still think he’ll be fine Week 1,” Schoen told Yahoo Sports on Monday. “So we’ll see. He’s trending in the right direction. Again, these things take time, so it’s not instant. Every patient is different.”
Nabers isn’t practicing yet, but new Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said he’s been impressed with Nabers’ mental approach to the offseason, learning Nagy’s system quickly.
“I see why he’s as good as he is,” Nagy said.
Schoen noted that the Giants brought in some insurance this offseason in the form of wide receivers Darnell Mooney, Odell Beckham Jr., Calvin Austin III, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Braxton Berrios. But the Giants are optimistic that the No. 1 receiver in Week 1 will be Nabers.
Cam Skattebo moved well in individual drills on Monday as he continues working his way back from a gruesome ankle injury. He took another step on Tuesday.
On the first 11-on-11 of the offseason practice, Skattebo took a handoff. It marked the first time he has participated in team drills since a dislocated right ankle, a fractured fibula and a ruptured deltoid ligament in an Oct. 26 game against the Giants.
Skattebo expects to be full go for the start of training camp in late July.
He rushed for 410 yards and five touchdowns on 101 carries in the eight games he played last season before his injury. He also had 24 catches for 207 yards and two touchdowns.
Good football coaches are also good politicians. They know, as evidenced by the photo attached to this post, the importance of supporting other local teams during a postseason run. They also know what to say, and what not to say, when it comes to sensitive subjects.
On Monday, a question was posed to Giants coach John Harbaugh about the recent placement of grass at MetLife Stadium for the World Cup — to be removed and replaced with artificial turf that the players don’t like.
“Oh, you’re going to try to draw me in to the turf versus grass,” Harbaugh said. “And Roger [Goodell] is gonna call me up and he’s gonna get mad at me because I’m probably not gonna say what he wants me to say, so. That’s all I’m gonna say. That’s all I’m gonna say. It’s a good surface out there. It’s a good artificial surface, I’ll say that. How’s that?”
Harbaugh didn’t need to say what he wanted to say. Beyond the fact that what he would have said is obvious, Harbaugh has previously spoken about his preference for football on grass.
In 2015, when the Ravens switched from turf to grass, Harbaugh made his feelings about the move clear.
“It kind of epitomizes what Baltimore is all about, the history of football in Baltimore,” Harbaugh said. “To me, a Baltimore football team should be playing on a grass field in Baltimore.”
The sentiment is true, regardless of the city. After all, it was the Baltimore Colts against Harbaugh’s New York Giants on grass in the 1958 NFL Championship, known as the Greatest Game Ever Played.
Beyond tradition, the players strongly prefer it. As Devin McCourty said on PFT Live, coaches do, too. It’s the owners who want to have a cheaper surface that makes it easier to host events other than football games when the football team isn’t using the stadium for football.
The fact that Harbaugh anticipated a phone call from the Commissioner perfectly captures the current state of the debate. It has become not a question of what’s right for the players. It’s a collective bargaining issue. The NFL will hold the rope on turf, if only to get the best possible concession from the NFL Players Association if/when all stadiums embrace grass.
And the powers-that-be won’t want anyone from management saying anything that will weaken the ability to maximize the return the owners receive if/when they finally show proper respect for the players — and when they decide to properly protect their investment in them.
The Giants’ move to hire John Harbaugh as their head coach in January sparked hopes that the team will be able to return to being contender and that feeling has not flagged as the team nears the end of its offseason program.
This week’s mandatory minicamp will mark that end and the Giants will be weeks away from playing their first game under Harbaugh once they get back together for training camp. Good vibes about what’s to come will likely remain in place once the Giants get back together, but edge rusher Brian Burns offered a reminder about the fleeting nature of such feelings.
“Everybody is excited right now,” Burns said, via a transcript from the team. “Every other team is excited. Everybody is 0-0. They’re seeing the pieces they have, flying through OTAs. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel this is a little different, I was a little excited, and I expect highly of this team. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that. But at the end of the day, like I say, you’ve gotta prove it. It’s [not] just about being happy and optimistic. You’ve gotta get on the field and you’ve got to prove it against another team and impose your will on them.”
One need only look at recent Giants history to back up Burns’s statement. Harbaugh is the fifth permanent head coach since Tom Coughlin was dispatched and each of the others created reason to think things had turned a corner, but two winning seasons in 10 years makes it clear that reality has topped fantasy time and again for the Giants.
Reports from Monday’s Giants minicamp practice concerning edge rusher Abdul Carter may have provided a few scares, but there don’t appear to be any long-term fears for the 2025 first-round pick.
Carter limped off the field during practice after having his left foot and ankle looked at by trainers. He went to the locker room for further evaluation, but the word from the team is that Carter will be just fine.
Head coach John Harbaugh told reporters at a post-practice press conference that it looks like Carter twisted his ankle during the practice. Harbaugh added that the injury “doesn’t look serious.”
Carter had 43 tackles, four sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries during his rookie season with the Giants.
The Giants got an injury scare from edge rusher Abdul Carter at their first minicamp practice on Monday, but there was a more positive update on the medical front for another of their 2024 draft picks.
Videos from media members at the practice show running back Cam Skattebo participating in drills. Skattebo can be seen moving well while taking handoffs and catching passes down the field in the shared clips.
It’s the first time that Skattebo has done that kind of work during an offseason practice open to the media. He said a couple of weeks ago that he is “a little ways out” from being 100 percent after last season’s ankle injury, but expected to be there when the team gets to training camp.
In eight games before his injury, Skattebo had 101 carries for 410 yards and five touchdowns along with 24 catches for 207 yards and two scores.
Sean McDermott has said that he’s planning on spending his 2026 speaking with people about leadership in order to grow as a coach.
While many of those visits have been with folks he didn’t know, one on Monday was a little different.
According to multiple reporters on the scene, McDermott was in New Jersey on Monday, attending Giants minicamp.
McDermott walked on the field with New York General Manager Joe Schoen, who previously worked with McDermott with the Bills.
McDermott also previously worked with now-Giants head coach John Harbaugh, as they were both assistants with the Eagles under head coach Andy Reid.
As head coach of the Bills, McDermott accumulated a 98-50 regular-season record and an 8-8 postseason record in his nine seasons.
He is likely to be one of the hottest head coaching candidates in the cycle once the calendar flips to January.
Giants edge rusher Abdul Carter suffered an injury that forced him off the field at today’s mandatory minicamp practice.
Carter had his left shoe and sock off and was examined by trainers, limped off the outdoor practice field and into the Giants’ indoor facility. according to Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
Carter is heading into his second season with the Giants, who drafted him with the third overall pick last year. He had a solid rookie season, starting slowly but coming on strong down the stretch, and finishing fifth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
Jordan Raanan of ESPN reports that the Giants’ initial belief is that Carter is OK.
Odell Beckham spent his first five seasons with the Giants. He insists he never wanted to leave, but in the 2019 offseason, the Giants sent him to the Browns in a blockbuster trade.
Eight years and three other teams later, Beckham has returned to where it all started when the Giants used a first-round pick on him.
Beckham called being back with the Giants, with whom he signed a free agent deal this week, “a pretty surreal feeling.”
“Just the way that I had to walk away, it was just unsettling in my soul, in my spirit,’’ Beckham said, via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. “It’s not who I am. I’ve never surrendered or quit or felt like I’ve given up on myself or anything. It just wasn’t sitting with me well.’’
Beckham expressed gratitude to co-owner John Mara and the organization for giving him another opportunity. Beckham has not played an NFL game since Dec. 8, 2024, with the Dolphins, as he sat out the 2025 season.
He has played only 23 games over the past four seasons.
“This family brought me in; they gave me my first opportunity,” Beckham said. “Something I’ll forever be grateful for. So many amazing memories. My life was here. I never thought I’d be anywhere else. To even have the opportunity to put a jersey and a helmet back on – I actually left one of my helmets here, it had dust on it. — it was good to see.
“But yeah, I want to do it for that family, for this building, for Giants Nation. This is my squad. It’s just going to come with everyday work, being the best me I can be.”
Beckham is 33, hasn’t made a Pro Bowl since 2016 and hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season since 2019. This is likely his last chance, even if he’s not looking at it like that.
“I look at it like this: God has given me one more opportunity to play,” Beckham said. “Whatever I do with that is that. I’m not saying this is my only year and I’m not saying that I’ve got five more for you. I’m just looking at it like this is my opportunity now. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
