The Giants got the kind of pre-camp news that can calm a nervous fan base in a hurry: Malik Nabers is not on the PUP list.
That matters because New York is heading into training camp with only one player on the PUP list, and it isn’t Nabers. Roy Robertson-Harris, Thaddeus Dixon and Gunner Olszewski all tore their Achilles during an offseason that already had plenty of bad breaks, but Thomas Fidone and Sam Roberts both cleared their physicals on Tuesday. Robertson-Harris is now the lone player still on the PUP list.
For Giants fans who spent the offseason bracing for more bad Nabers news, simply seeing his name absent from that list was a relief. It doesn’t mean he’s ready to run wild at camp or that he’s fully back to 100 percent, but it is a meaningful step in the right direction.
As The Athletic’s Dan Duggan put it:
"Avoiding the PUP list is encouraging for Nabers’ potential to be ready for the Sept. 13 season opener against the Cowboys. But there are still no assurances, and it doesn’t mean Nabers is 100 percent healthy."
The next real checkpoint comes when new head coach John Harbaugh and Nabers speak at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, where fans will get a clearer sense of where the star receiver stands.
And the timing couldn’t be better for a Giants offense that looked painfully thin without the 23-year-old. The passing game, in particular, struggled badly when Nabers was out, and getting him back to full strength would change the entire feel of this offense.
Wan'Dale Robinson handled a big chunk of the targets that would have gone Nabers’ way last season and turned it into a career year, then used that season to land a four-year, $72 million free-agency deal with the Tennessee Titans.
New York tried to patch things together with veterans, but the group of Darnell Mooney, Darius Slayton, Calvin Austin III, an over-the-hill Odell Beckham Jr., and rookie Malachi Fields comes with obvious risk if Nabers isn’t available.
That’s why the update carries so much weight. Pro Football Focus ranked Nabers No. 20 among receivers ahead of the new season, while also saying he’s a top-10 NFL wideout at his best. He had been ranked 12th in the same exercise coming into 2025.
There isn’t another offensive skill player on the roster who comes close to that level, which is exactly why keeping Nabers off the PUP list feels like such a major win for the Giants as camp opens. After the injuries they’ve already absorbed, they needed one piece of good news. This was it.
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