The New York Giants have added a talent capable of becoming a bona fide No. 1 receiver in the pros, selecting LSU star Malik Nabers with the No. 6 pick of the 2024 NFL Draft on Thursday night in Detroit.
“I’m excited to see the city, excited to be with my teammates and learn the offense, learn my quarterback, and just be in New York,” Nabers said. “I never been to New York, only been there once. Living there, I’m going to need some help.”
Should general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll believe that Daniel Jones is their quarterback of the future — a notion that could change as the draft progresses — they certainly appear to be doing what they can to surround him with more playmaking talent.
Nabers set an LSU school record with 3,003 receiving yards in his career, including 89 receptions for 1,569 yards, and 14 touchdowns last season.
“It was very likely [that the Giants would pick me],” Nabers said. “I knew Dabs he conversed with a lot of my coaches, he really liked my game, he liked my dog mentality, so I’m glad he chose me.”
With Jones recovering from a torn ACL and questions still remaining about his ability to be the No. 1 quarterback of the future, Giants management has the potential to exercise an opt-out in his four-year, $160 million contract at the end of this upcoming season. An inability to perform with a young core of receivers that now includes Nabers, Jalin Hyatt, and Wan’Dale Robinson along with veteran Darius Slayton would only help with that decision.
The top quarterbacks of the draft — Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and Jayden Daniels — were already off the board to make Schoen’s decision all the more easy, though the Giants had their pick of two top-tier receivers in Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze.
“We had a lot of meetings throughout the season,” Schoen said. “At the end of the day we just thought Malik’s toughness, separation, speed — not that Rome doesn’t have all those things; Rome is a very good player, too — just when it came down to it, what we were looking for, Malik checked a lot of those boxes — his person, his toughness, competes, his production, the versatility.”
