Malik Nabers was picked in the NFL’s All-Under-25 team by Nick Shook.
Nabers was selected in the flex spot with Los Angeles Rams star Puka Nacua and Jacksonville Jaguars wideout Brian Thomas Jr. filling the wide receiver berths.
Shook expects Nabers to feature in the All-Under-25 team for the next two or three years after he became the first New York Giant with a 1,000-yard receiving season since Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018. Nabers was targeted 170 times in the 2024 regular-season (only one other Giant was targeted on more than 71 occasions.)
There were multiple games in 2024 when Nabers was targeted more than all of the other Giants receivers combined. This included his dominant performances in week two and week three of the regular season.
Since Beckham’s peak years, the Giants have been desperate for a receiver of Nabers’ caliber. While New York isn’t going to be a contender in 2025, Nabers’ presence gives someone to build the offense around.
Shook wrote, “Giants fans are very happy to have Nabers in the Big Apple, especially after he almost singlehandedly kept their offense afloat on many Sundays in 2024. In the final season of the Daniel Jones era, the quarterback treated Nabers like a life raft amid a torrential storm at sea, force-feeding his younger teammate and allowing Nabers to work his magic.”
Nabers Fantasy Projection
Even with Jones and Drew Lock as his quarterbacks in 2024, Nabers was WR8. He is WR6 and being drafted 11th overall, according to Fantasy Pros.
Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, and Ja’Marr Chase are all being drafted ahead of Nabers. Russell Wilson is a marked improvement on Jones and Lock, but Nabers is still in the worst situation of any of the top-six wide receivers from a fantasy perspective.
New York hasn’t exactly revamped its receiving corps. Teams are going to double Nabers and force Wilson to throw the ball to Wan’Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton, and Theo Johnson. Barring a breakout from one of his fellow receivers, Nabers is going to receive too much defensive attention to be a top-three wide receiver for fantasy purposes, even if his talent puts him on the same level as Lamb, St. Brown, Nacua, and Chase.
The 2024 sixth-overall pick becomes a value selection if he falls to 10th or below in your fantasy football drafts. Picking him any earlier is a risk due to the Giants’ flaws. He has the talent to rival Jefferson for the WR1 berth in the future, but New York has a lot of work to do to make that a reality.
