Giants Rookie Malik Nabers Trending Toward Playing vs. Texans

Nabers is recovering from an ankle sprain suffered on Sunday.

Jul 25, 2024; East Rutherford, NY, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (9) puts on his helmet during training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. / Lucas Boland-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants rookie Malik Nabers gave everyone quite a scare Sunday when he came up limp after injuring his left ankle. 

While tests proved the injury wasn’t serious enough to threaten the rookie’s availability for Week 1 of the regular season, there was some question as to whether the team would hold him out of practice the rest of the week and Saturday’s preseason game against the Houston Texans.

It turns out that the first part of that belief proved untrue, and the second part, about Nabers playing in Saturday’s game, might also be untrue.

Nabers was on the field for the Giants on Thursday in a card practice to help the team get ready for Saturday’s game. He looked promising running routes and doing his thing, so head coach Brian Daboll did not rule out having the rookie play a few snaps in Saturday’s game along with the rest of the starters.

“We’ll go through practice and figure it out like we normally do,’’ Daboll said. “But I’d say there’s definitely a chance.’’

Nabers told reporters this week that there was “no doubt” in his mind he’d be ready for Week 1 of the regular season, which is the more important date of the two. But despite having gotten countless practice reps in with starting quarterback Daniel Jones, it can’t hurt for the two to see live game action together, especially against a live pass rush.

 “He looked good,’’ Jones said after Thursday’s practice. “So, yeah, I think he’s feeling good.’’

In other positive news, rookie running back Tyrone Tracy, Jr., who gave everyone a scare when he collapsed to the ground while fielding a punt on Tuesday, screaming in pain, was back on the field doing individual drills.

Tracy, who was carted off the field Tuesday, his right leg in an air cast, was diagnosed with a low ankle sprain. While his availability for Saturday is less likely than that of Nabers’s, that Tracy was back on the field doing some work was definitely a positive sign. 

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