As the New York Giants get ready for their Sunday Night Football showdown, they may be forced to do so without the services of star wide receiver Malik Nabers. Nabers has been in the concussion protocol and he isn’t out of the woods just yet to play.
The wide receiver suffered the injury a few weeks ago against the Dallas Cowboys and missed last week’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Giants head coach Brian Daboll offered up an update on Nabers but one that wasn’t too promising.
He said that Nabers was in the “same spot” as he had been earlier in the week. The rookie hasn’t practiced yet and one of the steps that he needs to clear is taking part in on-field work without any symptoms.
If Nabers can’t participate on Friday, it would likely mean that he will be ruled out for the game once again. But Daboll also said that the team wanted to get him out onto the field to test everything out.
“That’s why we’re going to get him out here on the grass today. So, he didn’t do that last week. He’s feeling better,” Daboll said. “But again, I’ll take those very seriously and go through each step. But he is doing better. So, we’ll see how he does after he does some activity out there on the grass today.”
Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images
If Nabers can’t go, others will need to step up against Cincinnati. Luckily for the Giants, the offense looked fairly strong last week against the Seahawks without him in the lineup.
But Nabers has been one of the more dynamic players in the NFL this season. He has caught 35 passes for 386 yards and two touchdowns.
His athleticism and explosiveness on the field have allowed the Giants offense to thrive behind quarterback Daniel Jones. Nabers has seen 52 targets on offense, one of the highest totals around the entire league.
While his absence would be missed, the Giants do have a few other options that they can work with. Wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson has emerged this season as a consistent threat and Darius Slayton just put up eight catches for 122 yards and a score last week.
Nabers will likely try to play but the team will again be cautious with his injury. They don’t want this concussion to linger and the league has put multiple checkpoints in place to add to player safety.
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