We still don’t know when New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers will return from a serious knee injury in Week 4 of the 2025 regular season that required multiple surgeries.
The hope is for Week 1, but who knows at this point.
It’s not a stretch to say that Nabers is the single player on the roster the Giants cannot afford to lose for long stretches of time. If he’s gone, you might as well flush this season down the drain.
If Nabers is healthy, though, the Giants have 1 of the NFL’s handful of wide receivers who can change games almost single-handedly, and Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay put Nabers at the top of his list of “dark horse candidates” to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2026.
Nabers currently sits at +4500 odds to win across the major betting sites, with Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson running neck-and-neck as favorites with odds ranging from +700 to +900.
“Despite Nabers’ bursting onto the scene with one of the best rookie seasons in recent memory — he caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games — and establishing himself as one of the best receivers in the league, he only has the 19th best odds of winning Offensive Player of the Year this season,” Kay wrote on July 8. “Nabers’ impending return will be a massive boon for a Giants squad working to take a major step forward in 2026. The team went all-in on a regime change and roster improvements this offseason, most notably placing John Harbaugh at the head coaching reins and bolstering Jaxson Dart’s protection with first-round guard Francis Mauigoa.”
Nabers, Dart Had Zero Chemistry in 2025
While the hope is Nabers returns and immediately starts catching bombs from Dart, there’s scant evidence that’s a lock to happen.
The 4 games Nabers played in 2025 before his injury were mostly defined by him complaining about the offense, including a sideline blowup in a season-opening loss to the Commanders — a game in which he had 5 receptions for 71 yards on 12 targets.
Nabers, to his credit, pointed out that anyone with that many targets shouldn’t be complaining, and he needed to work on his “sideline demeanor” moving forward.
Nabers lit up the Dallas Cowboys with 13 receptions for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 41-37 overtime loss in Week 2, but only had 2 receptions for 13 yards on 7 targets and didn’t have his 1st catch until the 4th quarter in a 22-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3.
“We’re 0-3,” Nabers said after the loss to the Chiefs. “We can’t win a game. It’s frustrating. We can’t win.’’
Nabers’ final game was also Dart’s 1st career start — a 21-18 Week 4 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in which Nabers caught 2 passes for 30 yards on 3 targets before he hurt his knee in the 2nd quarter.
Nabers Rolled Out Welcome Mat for 1st-Round Pick
Nabers wasn’t done making headlines with his mouth after his injury, and ended up being 1 of the big stories during the 1st round of the 2026 NFL draft for his reaction after the Giants drafted Ohio State edge rusher/inside linebacker Arvell Reese with the No. 5 overall pick.
It was the 3rd time in the last 5 seasons the Giants used a Top 5 pick on an edge rusher following Kayvon Thibodeaux in 2022 and Abdul Carter at No. 2 overall in 2025.
The Giants also have NFL All-Pro edge rusher Brian Burns, who had a career-high 16.5 sacks in 2025. Just weeks from the start of training camp, all 3 remain on the Giants’ roster along with Reese.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love (Reese) as a player, but just … where does he play?” Nabers said on a livestream immediately after the pick was announced. “You want to be on the outside and rush, but we just drafted someone last year to that same position.”
Even tougher for Nabers to swallow? The Dallas Cowboys drafted Ohio State safety Caleb Downs at No. 10 overall — a player the Giants desperately needed and someone who could end up tormenting Nabers for years to come in the NFC East Division.
Outspoken Giants WR Named ‘Dark Horse’ for NFL Offensive Player of the Year