New Giants WR Malik Nabers took pre-draft competition to new heights

The New York Giants suppressed the urge to select a quarterback in the NFL Draft and instead went with Malik Nabers, the wide receiver out of LSU, at No. 6 overall. Their decision has been widely celebrated, with Nabers hailed as one of the best wideouts to enter the league in recent years.

Still 20 years old, Nabers is oozing with upside. He put together an impressive junior campaign next to Heisman Trophy winner (and No. 2 overall pick) Jayden Daniels in Baton Rouge, netting 89 receptions for 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averaged a whopping 17.6 yards per catch, often exploding through would-be tacklers and evading pressure in the open field. He's a miraculous athlete and the future of New York football. That's the hope, at least.

This was a particularly loaded WR class. Normally, Nabers would have been WR1 without much competition. As the draft approached in April, however, there was real uncertainty about where Nabers would land in the positional hierarchy alongside Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. and Washington's Rome Odunze.

In the end, Harrison was the first WR off the board at No. 4 to the Arizona Cardinals. That was always the simple, safe, and probably correct choice. Nabers ended up as WR2 to New York, with Odunze slipping to the Chicago Bears at No. 9.

The pre-draft process was, of course, a competition between the top wideouts. They were all fighting for position on draft boards — sometimes in close proximity as their paths crossed on 30 visits. Nabers, however, took the competition further than most.

According to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, Nabers refused to even refer to Harrison and Odunze by name.

"The three were very clearly jockeying for draft position, and Nabers very clearly through the process showed he was not just aware of it, but he was embracing it. It was there at dinner the night before and through the visit, and it had become a pretty constant theme with Nabers, not just with the Giants. With another team, Nabers wouldn’t refer to Harrison or Odunze by name, and some evaluators took his decision to run a second 40 at his pro day, after clocking sub-4.4 seconds on his first one, as an implicit reference to Harrison’s decision not to do any testing ahead of the draft."

Malik Nabers took NFL Draft WR competition to next level prior to Giants' pick

In the end, the Giants were won over by Nabers' competitive spirit and undeniable talent. There were pre-draft concerns about Nabers being "high maintenance," per SI, but New York did its homework and achieved a "comfort level" with the LSU product.

Nabers is only 20, so there's hope that he can mature into the sort of foundational star the Giants need. It can be different to operate under the spotlight in New York, but the Giants passed on Odunze — who has far less "character concern" baggage — because of Nabers' immense skill and room for growth. More often than not, pre-draft noise about personality only serves to obfuscate clear quality disparities between prospects. Time and time again, we have seen smart front offices capitalize on prospects who fall too far due to off-field (non)issues. The Giants are hoping that is the case with Nabers.

There's still a lot to figure out in the Giants franchise, starting with the future of the QB position. Daniel Jones' contract comes off the books at season's end and the Giants opted not to draft his replacement. Unfortunately, the QB class in the 2025 draft is much weaker, so New York's options are limited.

Nabers should get his no matter who is tossing the football, but it would behoove the Giants to pair their mega-talented wideout with a dynamic playmaker under center. For the time being, however, Nabers will need to do the heavy-lifting as the Giants try to reemerge from the NFL basement.