The Giants may have stumbled onto a rookie who can change the shape of Jaxson Dart’s passing game.
After releasing Darius Slayton on Monday, New York is down to four wide receivers on the roster right now: Malik Nabers, Darnell Mooney, rookie Malachi Fields, and Odell Beckham Jr. That shift clears a path for Fields, who suddenly looks like the most intriguing name in the group behind the established options.
Fields is in a good spot to make noise in Year 1. Nabers is coming back from a season-ending ACL injury, Beckham has not played in two seasons, and Mooney’s last truly productive season came in 2024, when he finished just shy of 1,000 yards.
Before that, his best year was 2021 in Chicago under current Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. For now, Mooney is listed as Big Blue’s WR2 behind Nabers on the unofficial depth chart, but that can change quickly.
The Giants traded up to take the Notre Dame receiver in the third round, and he’s already started to justify the move. The 23-year-old turned heads this summer and showed the kind of upside that made him such an appealing pick in the first place.
His preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings gave the Giants a little of everything. Fields caught three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown, posted an 88.5 receiving grade from Pro Football Focus, and generated a 153.5 passer rating when targeted. That score was also the first Giants touchdown of the year.
That kind of start matters because it hints at something Dart did not always have as a rookie: another reliable target to lean on alongside Leek.
Last season, when Nabers went down in Week 4, Wan’Dale Robinson and Slayton were forced into bigger roles. This year, Dart has a deeper group around him, with a healthy Nabers, Mooney, Beckham, Fields, and tight end Isaiah Likely, who is also expected to break out.
When the Giants drafted Fields in April, not many would have guessed he could push for a major role this soon. But a few strong months can change the picture fast. Mooney may open Week 1 ahead of him, yet Fields has already done enough to make a real case for more snaps as the season goes on.
If the rookie carries that summer momentum into the regular season, Dart may finally get the secondary receiving threat he was missing for much of his rookie year.
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For the Giants, the timing is at least worth noting because Slayton is now available after his release and sits in a market that could thicken quickly if New England decides it needs proven depth. The Patriots do not have a clean answer yet, and when a team loses a starter this early, every available veteran becomes part of the conversation whether he was on the radar a week ago or not. [Read more 🡒]
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John Harbaugh was not willing to put anything official on the record when asked about Nabers, and he kept his response brief while declining to get into the status of other players, too. That leaves the Giants with at least one encouraging sign and a little bit of fog as the week goes on, but the direction of travel is clear enough to make this one of the more closely watched developments before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
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Still, the early buzz is not just about being better, it is about being relevant again. ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell has gone as far as to project the Giants as a 2026 wild-card team, even while stopping short of calling them a division favorite. For a fan base that has lived through too many false starts, the idea of playoff contention arriving as part of Harbaughs second-year picture is the kind of development that makes the rebuild feel a little more immediate. [Read more 🡒]