Malik Nabers isn’t yet fantasizing about a future catching touchdowns from Shedeur Sanders and restoring pride to the Giants.
But it’s never too late to reminisce about the time years ago when those two college football recruits were on opposite teams in the finals of a 7-on-7 tournament during a football camp hosted by Shedeur’s father — Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
“Me and him are in the same class, and it was always like I’m aware of my competition,” Nabers said after Wednesday’s practice. “He wasn’t in competition with me, but it was just the fact that it was Deion Sanders and Deion Sanders’ son so you always wanted to watch what those guys were doing. They did it at a high level wherever they went, so it’s amazing and impressive to see what he has done.”
Nabers recalled with a grin that he and his quarterback at the time — his future LSU teammate Garrett Nussmeier — beat Sanders’ team for the camp championship.
Years after camps like that one helped elevate Nabers’ profile, the rookie receiver isn’t doing much winning or grinning during a trying season with the Giants, who have lost eight straight and have a 41 percent chance to finish with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.
A 2-15 final record might put the Giants ahead of the Raiders in a position to choose between Sanders — who was coached by his dad at Jackson State in 2022 and at Colorado these past two seasons — and Cam Ward (Miami) as their new franchise quarterback.
Nabers said in the past that his only wish for the Giants’ future at quarterback is someone who can feed him the ball.
“I don’t have a relationship with any of those guys,” Nabers said. “I know about Shedeur, and I’ve seen a few games of Cam Ward. Those guys are amazing players.”
There is a possibility that the Giants win one of their final four games — probably not Sunday, when they are 16.5-point home underdogs against the Ravens — and fall out of the draft sweepstakes for Sanders or Ward.
And there is a separate possibility that months of scouting homework steers the Giants away from drafting Sanders or Ward, in which case a veteran bridge quarterback and a top non-quarterback draft could be teaming with Nabers in 2025.
Nabers also could end up in the same dynamic receiving corps with another Colorado star — Heisman Trophy favorite Travis Hunter.
Not only is Hunter a 1,100-yard, 14-touchdown receiver playing with Sanders, but he is a once in a generation two-way star who doubles as an elite cornerback prospect.
“He’s the best player in college football. If you can play both sides at a high level like him, there’s no doubt,” said Nabers, whose appreciation for Hunter doing the job that he does as a No. 1 receiver plus another equally demanding job at the NFL level knows no bounds. “I don’t put no ceiling on anybody’s capability. I say he can 100 percent do it.”
Those brighter days are still months away, however.
Or what must feel more like an eternity to Giants head coach Brian Daboll, who raved about Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and “the number of [dual-threat quarterbacks] that have come out the last few years that are very difficult to defend” in one breath, and then said he hasn’t had time to watch any college football this fall in another.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen was at Colorado’s practice laughing with Deion and watching Shedeur as recently as Nov. 2. The Giants don’t have any quarterbacks under contract for 2025.
“My focus is on our football team now,” Daboll said. “In terms of studying guys and draft evaluation …. that’s the scouting department and Joe. We’re just trying to get a win.”
Nabers’ short-term focus is on a strong finish to his rookie year.
He needs 20 catches to reach 100 and 191 receiving yards to reach 1,000 despite missing two games earlier this season with a concussion and playing through nagging groin and hip injuries.
“As receiver, that’s your landmark for over a year, whether it be college, the League,” Nabers said. “So, yeah, 1,000 yards is in my head for sure.”
The path to 1,000 is littered with bumps, including a quarterback carousel that will land on Tommy DeVito for the second time Sunday as he starts in place of an injured Drew Lock.
“It takes a really long time for your quarterback and you to have a great connection,” Nabers said.
Maybe the clock will start ticking for Nabers and Sanders in 2025.
