Malik Nabers Injury Update: Will the Giants WR Play in Week 2?

Much like most of last season, Malik Nabers finds himself on the Giants' weekly injury report. Is the star wide receiver going to play in Week 2?

The NFL season is underway, which means that, unfortunately, injuries are rearing their ugly heads. As fantasy football managers prepare to set Week 2 lineups, it’s important to stay informed on the latest injury news. Malik Nabers popped up on Wednesday’s practice report with an injury. What is the New York Giants wide receiver dealing with, and is he in jeopardy of missing this week’s game?

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Malik Nabers Injury Update

Nabers was officially listed as a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice due to a back injury. As a reminder, Wednesday practice reports are largely meaningless in terms of anything negative. Within just a couple of weeks, many veterans, especially key contributors like Nabers, will see regular rest or reduced workloads on Wednesdays to help manage their bodies throughout the long season.

A limited practice on Wednesday is almost always a positive indicator for game availability. Typically, if a player participates in any capacity on a Wednesday, they are trending toward playing. In Nabers’ case, head coach Brian Daboll mostly calmed any fears, commenting that the receiver “should be okay,” which supports the notion that this is not a serious issue.

It’s also worth remembering that Nabers suffered a minor back injury during training camp that caused him to miss some time. The team’s medical staff never considered that issue serious, and Nabers has remained a full go since preseason. This recurrence likely mirrors the preseason situation as something to monitor but not a cause for concern.

Fantasy managers can rest easy regarding Nabers’ status this week. Unless there is a dramatic negative turn later in the week, Nabers is expected to play and operate as the Giants’ top receiver against the Dallas Cowboys.

Nabers Fantasy Outlook

Nabers fell out of bed into double-digit targets, and he did that again over the weekend in Washington, but he hauled in just five of 12 for 71 yards and was held out of the end zone.

The Giants were a mess and Nabers still gets you a dozen PPR points, something that feels like his floor given the role in an offense that figures to be operating with an aggressive script more often than not this season.

The quarterback situation is what it is. Russell Wilson’s status as passively threatened this week, and while a change won’t be made for now, I’m not sure it matters.

The limitations of this offense as a whole are going to keep Nabers out of my top tier at the position, but the overwhelming nature of opportunities makes it impossible to rank him outside of the top 15.

Last season, he earned 28 targets on his 77 routes against Dallas as a rookie, totaling 20 catches and 184 yards in the process. In those contests, the Giants made it a point to get their best player involved – the majority of those receptions came no more than five yards down the field.

The Cowboys are coming off a historically bad season in terms of defending the red zone, and Wilson may be playing for his job: this is about as optimistic as I’m going to get for Nabers to find paydirt, and that’s why he’s my WR3 for this week.

— PFSN Fantasy Analyst Kyle Soppe

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