Malik Nabers spent most of the offseason as one of the scariest names on the board after a second procedure on his knee. The recent developments have been far more encouraging than anyone expected.
His draft price has climbed, though not nearly as much as it probably should have. Fantasy managers still have a window to buy an elite talent below market.
Should You Draft Malik Nabers in Fantasy Football?
In PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator, Nabers’ ADP is currently 29.2. Depending on how many people you have in your league, you’re looking at probably a third-round pick, maybe even a fourth if you’re in a smaller league.
But PFN’s rank between our two fantasy experts, Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe, is a little bit higher for him. They rank him 18th, which would make him a second-round selection in most leagues. He’s currently being projected at 15.5 points per game.
The big question now with Nabers is how he’s going to do coming off a torn ACL. That’s a major injury that he suffered early in the regular season last year. He’s had plenty of time to recover from it, but things are different now. He’s going to have Jaxson Dart at quarterback as opposed to Russell Wilson or Daniel Jones, whom he played with early on in his career and had some nice success with in his rookie year.
It’s a different sort of situation. It’s a different head coach now. John Harbaugh is in charge of the Giants. It’s a different offensive coordinator. Matt Nagy is going to be leading the charge on offense, for better or worse. Sorry, Matt, I’d say for worse.
But all things considered, Nabers had an incredible rookie year. He looked really good in Year 2 before he got hurt for the year. The question now is what the passing attack is going to look like. Is it going to be a run-heavy approach with Harbaugh at the helm with Nagy? Are they going to move the ball down the field as much, or is it going to be a lot of the short West Coast dump-offs that we’ve come to expect from a Matt Nagy offense?
At this stage, I’d certainly consider drafting Nabers at his ADP at 29.2, but as far as his PFN rank, I’d fade that. If you’re taking him in the second round, you’re probably taking him as a WR1, unless you’re doubling down at receiver with your first two picks, in which case all the power to you. If the value is there, go for it. But I don’t think Nabers is worth taking in the second round with some of the risks that you have with a new offense.
If you’re a believer in the training camp hype, the Giants offense has been struggling in the early installation process of Nagy being the offensive coordinator. Who knows how that’s going to affect Nabers. Incredible player, super dynamic athlete. If you can get him in the third round, I’d certainly consider it. That second round is a little bit rich for my liking.
FANTASY RANKINGS: PFN’s FREE Fantasy PPR, Half-PPR, and Non-PPR Rankings
Malik Nabers’ Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
Just a casual 13 targets (3 coming in the end zone), 9 catches, 167 yards, and a pair of touchdowns.
That’s what we got from Nabers in this matchup last September, and that was with a quarterback in Russell Wilson who literally didn’t throw a single touchdown pass in any other game besides that shootout (78 pass attempts, 2 interceptions).
This Dallas defense should be improved, but every dropback in New York is more valuable today with Jaxson Dart than it was 12 months ago, too. Nabers has earned 25 targets through two weeks of both of his professional seasons, and given that we were seeing him run full routes in early August, what reason do we have to expect anything but an elite role?
Technically, we don’t know what this Dart/Nabers connection looks like (only 3 targets a year ago), but I’m willing to work through any learning curve that could exist with them given my confidence in both talents as individuals.
Dart weighed Wan’Dale Robinson down with looks last season: It’s not hard to imagine him thriving now that his WR1 is 4 inches taller with a 7-inch advantage in vertical leap.
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Where Nabers Ranks Among 2026 Wide Receivers
- Puka Nacua | LAR
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba | SEA
- Amon-Ra St. Brown | DET
- Justin Jefferson | MIN
- CeeDee Lamb | DAL
- Malik Nabers | NYG
- Drake London | ATL
- Nico Collins | HOU
- A.J. Brown | NE
- George Pickens | DAL
- Rashee Rice | KC
See PFN’s 2026 PPR Wide Receiver Rankings for more.
