He’s one of the most talented and multi-faceted wide receivers in the NFL, but Malik Nabers is being sold short by an “old school” usage plan from the New York Giants, a strategy that’s turning their go-to target into a college-style wideout with a simplified route tree, according to a former pro quarterback.
It’s the view of ESPN analyst and ex-Detroit Lions and Houston Texans passer Dan Orlovsky. He believes “The Giants are turning Nabers into an old school Baylor WR Just run fast and straight every play What are we doing?!?!?!!?
Just run fast and straight every play
What are we doing?!?!?!!?
Orlovsky let loose while watching the Giants lose 22-9 to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in Week 3. A game when Nabers was held to “2 catches for 13 yards on seven targets. First career game with less than four receptions,” per Orlovsky’s colleague Jordan Raanan.
The Chiefs gameplanned to take Nabers away, but the sixth player selected in the 2024 NFL draft also suffered because of a mediocre performance from quarterback Russell Wilson and some unimaginative play-calling.
Giants Not Doing Enough to Involve Malik Nabers
Nabers saw some form of double coverage on almost every snap at MetLife Stadium. He was bracketed, usually with a safety over the top, but the Giants still lacked ideas about how to get their most dynamic player the football.
That’s on head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who didn’t adjust to Nabers being denied the space to get vertical. It was “the first time in his career he’s had under 1.0 YPRR in a game,” according to stats from Pro Football Focus, cited by Doug Analytics.
Daboll and Kafka didn’t attempt to involve Nabers on screen passes or jet sweeps. Anything quick and simple to put the ball into his hands.
Worse still, there was a lack of variety in the routes Nabers ran. Orlovsky’s critique about straight lines was on point, prompting the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy to state “The OBJ ‘Sluggo’ or slant and catch-and-run needs to be a bigger part of this offense #Giants.”
Dunleavy’s reference to a favorite route concept from Odell Beckham Jr.’s days with the Giants is telling. Especially after Nabers was seen talking with OBJ and former Big Blue defensive captain and Super Bowl winner Antonio Pierce in a head-turning, postgame exchange.
A sense of frustration is inevitable when Nabers had issues with play-calling last season. Frustration could be compounded after Giants coaches simply played into what the Chiefs did to keep Nabers under wraps.
The decision was perhaps partly motivated by Wilson’s limitations.
Russell Wilson Holding Back Giants Offense
Wilson’s deep ball bonanza against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2 wasn’t lost on the Chiefs and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The mastermind of the 2007 Giants‘ Super Bowl win over Tom Brady and the then-undefeated New England Patriots returned with a plan to deter Wilson from attacking vertically.
Spagnuolo’s strategy involved the Chiefs deploying “split-safeties on 78.9% of dropbacks against the Giants, the highest rate by any team this season. The unit generated a 41.4% pressure rate and held Russell Wilson to 0 for 5 with an interception on deep passes in split-safety coverage,” according to Next Gen Stats.
The unit generated a 41.4% pressure rate and held Russell Wilson to 0 for 5 with an interception on deep passes in split-safety coverage.
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Keeping two safeties along the last line of their defense meant the Chiefs were giving Wilson the underneath areas, particularly across the middle. Unfortunately, the 36-year-old is “still reluctant to attack the middle of the field. Simple coverage rotations disrupt his process; he routinely misses telegraphed blitzes before the snap, and he struggles to read out passing concepts that are typically installed on the first day of the offseason,” per The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz.
Wilson isn’t working between the numbers, so that rules out the kind of slant patterns Nabers can use to amass yards after the catch. Whether benching the veteran signal-caller for rookie Jaxson Dart would change that is open for debate, but the Giants must develop a more sophisticated package of plays for their primary weapon.
Giants Blasted for ‘Old School’ Malik Nabers Plan