New York Giants WR Malik Nabers has been recovering from a torn ACL sustained during the 2025 regular season. While the injury occurred early enough in the campaign to have Nabers on track to be ready for 2026, that isn’t quite the case as we approach training camp at the end of the month.
Nabers had another procedure and now his status for Week 1 seems murky. Obviously, we’ll gather more intel during camp and see if Nabers can get out on the field for preseason games. But for now, if you’re drafting early, it’s tough to have optimism toward the talented wideout.
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Matt Harmon is joined by Sharp Football’s Rich Hribar to discuss Nabers’ injury and fantasy football expectations on the latest episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast.
The Giants moved on from head coach Brian Daboll and installed a new regime headed by former Baltimore Ravens HC John Harbaugh. He is tasked with getting the franchise, particularly QB Jaxson Dart and the offense, on track.
Hribar mentions there are a lot of moving parts to Nabers’ fantasy stock for 2026. We saw Nabers’ volatility in a small sample with Russell Wilson early last season. That included a 9-167-2 explosion in Week 2 vs. the Cowboys. But Nabers would go down with the injury in Week 4 and only briefly play with the then-rookie Dart.
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Matt Nagy was brought in as offensive coordinator and Hribar expects the Giants to look to run the football in 2026. New York also brought in TE Isaiah Likely from the Ravens. But Hribar mentions where Nabers is falling drafts, around the WR17 range, per FantasyPros. So once you get by the top-four wideouts in fantasy, Hribar likes working this range from Nabers to WR30.
Harmon brings up the depth at wide receiver this season and he doesn’t know why a fantasy manager would want to “go down with the ship” with Nabers and his injury concerns. You also want to consider the change in environment from Nabers’ rookie season, when he was targeted 170 times. Harmon doesn’t believe that’s how the Giants want to operate under Harbaugh.