Malik Nabers Back From ACL Tear: Snaps and Targets Down, Longest Catch 16 Yards
Malik Nabers, three games back from a torn ACL, said Thursday he is still "trusting my knee." His yards after the catch are near his early-2025 rate but trail 2024, and his snaps, target share and long gains are down from both.
Through three games back from a torn ACL, Malik Nabers is producing well below his pre-injury rates, and the gap is in playing time, targets and long catches. His yards after the catch, the part of his game he pointed to Thursday, are close to what he did in the first three games of 2025 before he was hurt. That 2025 sample is 16 catches, half of them on throws of 10 or more yards. On throws shorter than 10 yards, his yards after the catch this season trail his 2024 rate.
Nabers said at his Thursday media availability that he is still working on "trusting my knee." Asked about a play on which he left yards on the field, he named a slant from the Giants' 12-7 win over the Titans on Sept. 27. He said he caught it, saw a hole and ran, but "probably could have got way more." On whether he would have gained more before the injury, he said, "I probably think for sure, yeah."
Three games is a small sample, and one of them included a shoulder injury. The numbers cannot separate the effect of his knee from his snap count, the quarterback change and the game plan. The figures below come from nflverse play-by-play and snap-count data, with catches, yards and long gains matching NFL.com's game log. The 2024 column is his full 15-game season. The 2025 column covers Weeks 1-3, before the Sept. 28, 2025, game against the Chargers in which he tore the ACL.
| Stat | 2024 (15 games) | 2025, Weeks 1-3 | 2026, Weeks 1-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offensive snap share | 91% | 95% | 68% |
| Targets per game | 11.3 | 10.7 | 6.3 |
| Share of team targets | 34.9% | 31.4% | 23.2% |
| Catches per game | 7.3 | 5.3 | 4.0 |
| Yards per game | 80.3 | 83.7 | 32.0 |
| Yards per catch | 11.0 | 15.7 | 8.0 |
| Yards after catch per catch | 4.2 | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| Catches of 20+ yards | 16 | 5 | 0 |
| Longest catch | 59 | 48 | 16 |
Playing time and targets
Nabers has played 129 of the Giants' 191 offensive snaps this season. His share has risen each week: 36 of 69 snaps in the opener against Dallas, 43 of 58 at the Rams and 50 of 64 against Tennessee.
He is also drawing targets less often when he is on the field. He has been targeted once every 6.8 snaps this season, compared with once every 5.2 snaps in 2024 and once every 6.0 in the first three games of 2025. His share of the Giants' targets is down from about a third to under a quarter.
Long gains
Nabers has no catch of 20 or more yards this season. His longest is a 16-yarder from Jaxson Dart in the opener. He had 16 such catches in 2024 and five in the first three games of 2025, including a 48-yarder.
In 2024 he went four straight games, Weeks 7 through 10, without a catch of 20 or more yards.
Yards after the catch
Nabers is averaging 2.9 yards after the catch per reception this season. That is below his 4.2 in 2024 and close to his 3.1 in the first three games of 2025.
His 2024 average moved widely over short stretches. Across Weeks 8, 9 and 10 of that season he averaged 1.3 yards after the catch. Across Weeks 16, 17 and 18 he averaged 9.1.
On throws that traveled fewer than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, he has averaged 3.4 yards after the catch on 10 receptions. He averaged 4.9 on 78 such catches in 2024 and 2.8 on eight in early 2025. None of his 10 short catches this season has produced 10 or more yards after the catch. In 2024, 10 of his 78 did. At that rate, 10 catches would be expected to produce about one.
Against Tennessee he caught five of six targets for 26 yards. Two of the catches came behind the line of scrimmage, and his targets averaged less than 1 yard downfield. His longest gain was 12 yards, on a ball caught 4 yards past the line with 8 yards after the catch. Play-by-play data does not record route type, so it does not identify which catch was the slant he described.
Quarterback change and target depth
Dart threw all nine of Nabers' targets in the opener, when he caught six for 69 yards. Dart was hurt in the first quarter of the Sept. 21 loss to the Rams and is on injured reserve, and Jameis Winston has thrown to Nabers since. Nabers left the Rams game with a shoulder injury late in the first quarter and returned on the next drive. He caught one of four targets for 1 yard in that game.
The depth of his targets has varied from week to week. They averaged 11.4 yards downfield in the opener, 19.2 at the Rams and 0.8 against Tennessee.
The Giants host the Arizona Cardinals at 1 p.m. Sunday.