New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers felt himself come back to life Monday.
Nabers took his first team reps of training camp Monday, after recovering from a torn ACL he suffered early in the 2025 season.
Nabers told reporters after practice that he is doing his best to maintain a delicate balance between following his trainers’ advice and playing at full speed. But as evidenced in practice, his competitive fire tends to make itself apparent.
“It was good,” he said. “Felt good getting some team reps, getting out there, catching the football.”
Nabers had a couple of notable incidents during practice Monday. During the individual period, Nabers was working on his release off the line when he lost his balance, then recovered. Nabers said it was nothing to worry about.
“You’re going to take wrong steps and releases,” he said.
“You never know what the DB is going to do. So, it’s just a reaction drill. I didn’t feel any way planting on the ground. I just slipped in the grass, and that was really it. But after that, I guess my teammates came up in front of me and they [were] like, ‘just pace yourself, calm down.’ So I took that into consideration to just listen to my teammates, continue to just be in the same spot, and continue to just focus more on just the technique of what I’m doing.”
During the 7-on-7 period, Nabers caught a fly ball that sailed over the head of linebacker Arvell Reese. Nabers slammed the ball to the turf after the catch. Reporters thought he was upset, but he assured them it was just his competitive fire coming back.
“It’s just that dog in me is just barking a little bit, you know?” he said. “It’s just like he’s coming, you know? That was just a little little spark. It was just let everybody know he’s coming. He’s waking up a little bit.”
In fact, the whole experience was an awakening for him.
“My soul’s been dead for so long, just being away from the game,” he said. “So just getting out there and having my teammates behind me, kind of felt that soul come back to life out there.”
Nabers also did extra work with the athletic training staff.
After a hot start as a rookie—109 receptions for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns—Nabers tore his ACL and meniscus in the Giants’ week four matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025.
The training staff is slowly ramping him up, and he is taking their guidance in stride because his health is the most important thing to him. It is not clear if he’ll be ready for week one of the regular season.
Nabers said all the stars would have to align for him to be ready to go by them, but he is trying to handle both the physical and mental aspects of his recovery.
“I think all those things come into consideration, and I’ve been doing a very good job of mentally, doing things that I do to make sure my mental is right, physically, continue to just come out here, show good effort, show up earlier in the morning, leave late at night, also do the things at home, and just being a good teammate, continue to know the playbook, continue to just talk to the QBs, making sure I’m seeing what they’re seeing even though I’m not out there,” he said.
“All around, just giving good effort and just showing you, the coaches, all my teammates, I’m still involved even when I’m not on the field with those guys.”
But in the meantime, that hasn’t stopped his desire to go full-speed from emerging.
“I’m trying,” he said of maintaining the balance between his health and his competitive spirit.
“I only know 100 percent every time I’m up there. I’m always trying to go full speed, always trying to play how I know how to play, but there comes a time with just being smart, knowing what’s ahead, and just being smart when I’m out there, continue to just play my game, do what I do, but also be smart out there.”
