With star wide receiver Malik Nabers’ status heading into the summer uncertain after a second surgery on his knee was performed this spring, the New York Giants could find themselves a bit thin at the position as the regular season approaches.
Nabers tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee last September in a win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The injuries required surgery, which ended Nabers’ season. Earlier this month, it was revealed that Nabers needed a second surgery this spring to remove scar tissue that was causing stiffness in the knee.
The Giants don’t believe the second surgery will affect Nabers’ return timeline, but given the way head coach John Harbaugh spoke this past week, nothing is off the table.
“Yeah, it’s in the middle of it. He’s in the middle of it. It’s such a hard thing. It’s an ACL and whatever else he had in that knee. Not a simple knee, you know,” Harbaugh told reporters at the Giants’ OTAs last week.
“So he’s in the slog of it, the grind of it, I would say. So he’s fighting through it. You know, he’s here every day, working hard at it. Just impossible to predict. I mean, the goal is to start the season and get out there sometime in training camp. That would be the goal… We’ll see what happens. If he’s out there, great. If he’s not out there, great. We’ll be ready to go either way. But I know he’s fighting like crazy to do his best to be out there. He’s with the guys every day.”
The meniscus is the likely problem area, which Giants great Tiki Barber recently addressed. It is appearing more and more likely that Nabers could start training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. This way, if he doesn’t improve quickly enough, the Giants have options.
What they don’t have right now is depth. Their other starting wide receivers from last year will also not be on the field for them. Wan’Dale Robinson left for Tennessee in free agency, and Darius Slayton is recovering from sports hernia surgery. Harbaugh said Slayton should be ready for training camp, but we won’t know for sure until then.
In a recent article listing one move each team should make this summer, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox believes the Giants should add a veteran wideout.
New York Giants: Sign a Receiver
The New York Giants may not have Malik Nabers at the start of the regular season, as he recovers from a torn Achilles. While they’ve added the likes of Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin III, and third-round rookie Malachi Fields, they should look to add another veteran to help second-year QB Jaxson Dart.
The Giants have reportedly considered a reunion with Odell Beckham Jr., who also played under head coach John Harbaugh in Baltimore. If that doesn’t materialize, veterans like Stefon Diggs and DeAndre Hopkins should be on the proverbial table.
We’ll apologize for Knox, who got Nabers’ injury wrong, but you get the gist.
The Beckham situation is fluid, but the Giants appear to be waiting. He didn’t play at all last year and is suddenly 33 with a lot of wear and tear. It looks like he might be a last resort option.
Diggs, also 33, comes with a lot of baggage and could be out of the Giants’ price range, although he still has game. Hopkins, another 33-year-old, has played on three different teams over the past three seasons and isn’t the player he once was. He did play for Harbaugh in Baltimore last year, so there’s familiarity there.
The Giants could simply let the injuries to Nabers and Slayton play themselves out. They are gravitating towards a more run-oriented offense with a fullback and two-tight end sets. They also plan on getting the ball into the hands of Isaiah Likely and Theo Johnson more this year.
Harbaugh mentioned how much he was impressed with Mooney and Austin this week, and the Giants traded up to draft Fields, who they see as a major mismatch for opposing secondaries due to his large frame and catch radius.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Should Giants add a veteran WR with Malik Nabers’ status uncertain?
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