Giants Receive Devastating News on Star WR Malik Nabers

New York’s second-year wide receiver went down with a knee injury on Sunday, and an MRI confirmed he tore his ACL and is out for the season.

New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers reacts to a knee injury during a game against the Los Angeles Chargers in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sept. 28, 2025. Adam Hunger/AP Photo

The New York Giants won for the first time this season on Sunday, but lost second-year star wide receiver Malik Nabers for the rest of the year in the process.

Nabers went down during a deep pass play with 6:12 left in the second quarter of the Giants’ 21–18 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Giants head coach Brian Daboll confirmed on Monday after Nabers’ MRI that the young wideout tore his ACL.

“We’ll have a tremendous amount of support for him, his family,” Daboll told reporters. “It’s obviously a tough loss for our football team, but we’ll regroup. And we’ll get the guys ready to play that are here and be as good as we can be on the perimeter.”

Nabers caught two passes for 20 yards before the injury. For the season, he had 18 catches for 271 yards and two touchdowns.

A Pro Bowler as a rookie, Nabers burst on the scene as a No. 6 pick out of LSU in 2024 with the Giants. Nabers broke the Giants’ single-season record for receptions as he caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns last year.

Darius Slayton will take on the No. 1 receiver role with Nabers sidelined. Slayton has nine catches for 135 yards thus far, and he has produced for the Giants in the past.

In seven seasons with New York, Slayton has 268 receptions for 4,032 yards and 21 touchdowns, amid a carousel of quarterbacks. The Giants have been through 10 starters since Eli Manning’s last season in 2019.

Rookie Jaxson Dart became the 10th on Sunday when he made his first career start. The Giants took Dart in the first round out of Ole Miss, Manning’s alma mater, in this year’s draft.

“Obviously, prayers [for] him. I don’t think we know exactly what happened, so he’s going to be one of my first phone calls to check on him,” Dart told reporters after the game. “Malik is—I’ve said it—Malik’s one-of-one, so when you have a guy like that on the field, you have all the confidence in the world that he can just be a dominant game-changer.”

“But I thought from that moment, obviously it’s really hard seeing one of your best friends go down, but we were able to rally,” Dart added. “I thought guys made some good plays, but obviously, just prayers [for] him.”

Most of the team gathered around Nabers after the injury before he was carted off. New York settled on a 31-yard field goal by kicker Jude McAtamney for a 13–10 lead, but Dart and company got some more help in the second half.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert got picked off by Giants cornerback Dru Phillips and returned it 56 yards, deep into New York territory. Dart followed that up with a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Theo Johnson for a 21–10 lead.

The rookie quarterback went 13-20 for 111 yards and a touchdown in his debut. He also rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

“It wasn’t perfect, didn’t expect it to be in this first game,” Daboll told reporters on Sunday. “But a tough opponent, 3–0 team with pretty good defense.”

“Thought he made good decisions, that we ran the ball well, thought we controlled the game for the most part,” Daboll continued. “Had some turnovers on defense, but I think the young man played well within himself. Made a huge play when he needed to, to Theo, in that third-down play. Happy we got him.”

Johnson caught three passes for 17 yards as Dart spread the ball around in Nabers’ absence. Wan’Dale Robinson had three catches for 14 yards, Daniel Bellinger had a reception for 13 yards, and Cam Skattebo had two catches for 11 yards.

“Everybody gets paid to do a job. And it’s the next man up,” Daboll said.