With the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected Malik Nabers out of LSU. Nabers was widely regarded as one of the most impressive wide receiver prospects in recent memory, and he’s made an immediate impact in the NFL.
Nabers wouldn’t be where he is today without his support system, which includes his mother, Tonya Nabers. Here’s everything you need to know about Nabers’ mom and how she helped him turn his NFL dream into reality.
A Look At Malik Nabers’ Mother, Tonya
Nabers has talked about how his mother played a crucial role in his upbringing and credited her for a lot of his success on the gridiron.
Tonya welcomed Malik into the world on July 28, 2003, in Louisiana. While details about his father are not publicly known, Nabers is very close with his mother and six siblings (he has five sisters and a brother). Nabers also grew up alongside his cousin (and former LSU teammate) Jordan Allen, who is his best friend.
Tonya works full-time as a hospice revenue specialist while also running her own part-time hairstyling business, MADE THE KUT.
Once Malik went off to college, Tonya would often bring her hairstyling equipment to his apartment, so she could give Malik and Jordan haircuts. Tonya loved the opportunity to connect with her son and nephew while checking in on them in their first years in college.
“I’m going to talk to them and give them stuff raw and uncut because I want them to be well-rounded,” Tonya said in an interview. “And that’s how we’ve always been. We’re not the type to kind of hold things from them or baby them in any kind of way. I’m giving them life skills.”
After Nabers signed his rookie contract with the Giants, his first big purchase was buying Tonya her dream house. Nabers said that his top priority is providing for his mother and siblings.
“It was very important,” Nabers said. “That was the most important thing in my life, I would say, is having her have her own house and feel comfortable and not having to worry about bills to pay. And know that her little boy did it for her…
“[Football] saved me and my family’s life. Put my mom in a house that she wanted. Changed my life forever so I’m happy to be here.”
After buying the home for his mother, Malik described their relationship.
“As a mother, she’s always going to protect me from anything that comes my way,” Nabers said. “But it’s an understanding that I’m doing it; it’s my life that’s going forward. … They’re just watching from the back. So she’s just supportive, she’s just going to support me in any way possible and she’s just happy for me, proud of me.”