The Giants' First Injury Report Is Wednesday. Nabers' Game Status Isn't Due Until Friday

The Giants file the first injury report of their season Wednesday, Sept. 9. If they list Malik Nabers on it, it will say whether he practiced that day and how much. It will not say whether he plays against Dallas. Under the NFL's injury report policy, the designations that speak to that question — out, doubtful or questionable — are not required until the game status report Friday, Sept. 11.

The most recent edition of the policy NFL Football Operations posts publicly is the 2017 document, and the deadlines and designations in it are unchanged since the league dropped "probable" in 2016. For a Sunday game, clubs file practice reports Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, each due by 4 p.m. ET or soon after practice ends. Every player with a reportable injury gets one of three participation levels: did not participate, which the policy defines as "zero percent of a player's normal repetitions"; limited, less than 100 percent; or full, 100 percent. When a club holds a walkthrough or gives its players the day off, the report must indicate that the participation category is an estimate. The club also files a separate game status report Friday — out means will not play, doubtful means unlikely to play, questionable means uncertain. The policy governs the regular season and postseason, not the preseason, which is why nothing from August was filed with the league.

The policy requires a listing no matter how a player practiced: "All players who have reportable injuries must be listed on the Practice Report, even if the player takes all the reps in practice, and even if the team is certain that he will play in the upcoming game." If a player appears on the practice report and is left off the Friday game status report, the policy says "it means that the club is certain the player will play."

Nabers tore an ACL in the second quarter of a Week 4 win over the Chargers on Sept. 28, 2025, reaching for a deep pass from Jaxson Dart. Then-coach Brian Daboll confirmed the tear the next day. ESPN's Jordan Raanan reported that Nabers had surgery Oct. 28, 2025, to repair the torn ACL in his right knee. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Oct. 4, 2025, that the meniscus was also torn; the team has not confirmed that. The Athletic's Dan Duggan reported May 13 that Nabers underwent a second procedure to remove scar tissue and that the team had not altered his recovery timeline.

Nabers was not placed on the physically unable to perform list before camp — the Giants put three players there on July 23, and he was not one of them — and he made the initial 53-man roster on Aug. 30. Neither is a medical clearance. Both mean he is eligible to play in Week 1 if the team dresses him.

Nabers was asked Aug. 31 how he was feeling and what checkpoints remained before the opener. He declined to specify them: "I mean, I'm going to keep the checkpoints in-house. It's not really anything too big, but like I said, I'm going to keep it more in-house and just to myself." Asked again how he was feeling, he said: "I feel pretty good. Well, I feel real good, to be honest. But like I said, you're going to feel good, but there's still some things that you still have to check off the box for you to participate." Asked whether his focus had shifted to the Cowboys, he said his mind was "focused on playing the regular season, playing whenever that is and playing what team it is," and that he wanted to be healthy enough to play four quarters without a snap limit.

Coach John Harbaugh said Sept. 1 that Nabers "worked with the trainers for a little bit early, then he came out and was involved in most of the team reps." Told by a reporter that he had to plan for both outcomes, Harbaugh said: "We've got to plan for every outcome, exactly. So, we have to plan that he'll be there fully. We'll have to plan that he's not there at all, and we'll have to plan that he's there for some partial amount, and every kind of amount in between." Asked whether Nabers would be on a pitch count, Harbaugh said, "I don't know. We'll see."

Duggan reported Sept. 2 that Nabers was on the practice field on time but that the media viewing window was too short to see him work. He reported the next morning that the Giants were off Thursday through Sunday, that they would return Monday to a practice closed to reporters and that media access would not resume until Wednesday. Duggan noted that the collective bargaining agreement mandates the Friday-through-Sunday break and that Harbaugh added Thursday.

A did-not-participate on Wednesday would cover only that day, and Harbaugh described Nabers' workload Sept. 1 as "day-to-day." Limited is the least legible of the three: the levels are measured against a player's own normal rep count, so limited does not distinguish between a workload set by the medical staff and one set by the coaching staff. A full participation would mean he took 100 percent of his normal reps that day.

The practice report is due by 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, the game status report by 4 p.m. ET Friday, Sept. 11. Kickoff at MetLife Stadium is 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 13.