Malik Nabers has a lot of pressure on him to perform even as a rookie. The Giants are hoping he can build a strong relationship early on with Daniel Jones and revive their offense this season. What does the sixth-overall pick bring to the table?
2024 Fantasy Football Profile: Malik Nabers
2023 in Review
While Nabers didn’t play in the NFL last season, it’s still fun to try and project how he would have done based on his skillset. Last year at LSU, he caught 89 passes for 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns. If you subtract 25% of his numbers as a translation tax to the NFL, that becomes 67 catches for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns.
With default scoring settings (1 point for 15 yards, 6 points for touchdown), that brings his point total for his NFL-translated stats to 144.5 in standard leagues. That would have had him finish as WR24 last year. In PPR leagues, he would have produced 211.5 points which would be good enough to finish as WR28 in 2023.
Last season, Nabers was competing for targets with Brian Thomas Jr. who landed in Jacksonville. While Darius Slayton and Allen Robinson may steal some work, they won’t eat into Nabers’ volume as much as Thomas did in college. Nabers’ college numbers were only for 13 games compared to 16 for NFL fantasy, so there’s a lot of room to grow for the rookie.
2024 Projection
Nabers is going into the season as the clear-cut WR1 in New York. There’s no question about it or his talent level. One thing that will help Nabers is the Giants liked to spread the ball around last year as a result of not having a legitimate talent on the outside. Giants fans don’t have to worry about that this year.
Any issues with Nabers stem from Daniel Jones. The Giants are going into a make-or-break year for Jones, and he has to prove he can perform well. If the Giants can get even just league-average play from Daniel Jones this year, Nabers is going to be a top talent in fantasy football. He might not put up CeeDee Lamb or Tyreek Hill numbers, but he will produce.
Malik Nabers only needs one hand pic.twitter.com/72AaGNHTwU
— Justin Penik (@JustinPenik) August 4, 2024
Malik Nabers Fantasy Football ADP
Nabers is currently listed as having an ADP of 48 while going as early as 30 and as late as 75. Within the next few weeks, it seems very likely his ADP will rise even more. A clear number-one receiver on the Giants with the potential he has going in the fourth or fifth round is too good to be true and won’t stay that way for long. His ADP may not go up to 30 where some people are buying his hype, but it’s reasonable to expect it jump to the 35-40 range.
Grabbing Nabers as a WR1 may be a bit of a stretch unless you manage to secure a combination like Bijan Robinson, Kyren Williams and Sam LaPorta or something similar. As a WR2 though, Nabers is a gem that you’re going to want to have eyes on.
Main Photo Courtesy of Lucas Boland – USA Today Sports
