EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers had a conversation with his uncle before training camp in 2025. His uncle was asking about his nephew's journey to NFL stardom, when he became a Pro Bowl player while setting a Giants record with 109 receptions during his rookie season.Nabers, the sixth overall pick out of LSU in 2024, told him how he didn't view his journey as all that hard. In fact, it came relatively easy for the wide receiver while compiling 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns despite playing with four quarterbacks in 2024. Nabers noted there were a lot of other players who had gone through "way harder things."Little did he know what was coming.Fast forward to three months later in Week 4 of the 2025 season against the Los Angeles Chargers, with Nabers lying on the MetLife Stadium turf reaching for his right knee. He had jumped to make a catch deep down the right sideline and knew immediately, in midair, that something was wrong.The Giants' young playmaker tore the ACL and meniscus in his right knee.This was the test he subconsciously knew was coming even if it was one he hadn't asked for.On Nov. 1, 2026, Nabers is standing in the middle of the Giants' locker room seemingly fully back after four straight 100-yard receiving games, answering questions about the emotional challenge that came with the serious knee injury that cost him most of last season.Nabers revealed to ESPN prior to the first-place Giants' matchup Thursday night with the Washington Commanders (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime) details about that private conversation with his uncle that left the wide receiver once upon a time thinking his journey wouldn't be that formidable."Kind of ... kind of just ... and then this happened," Nabers reminisced last week. "And I was like, OK, well, this is the challenge that I said I never had. It's an opportunity to get back from a challenge and see how I can come back off of it."Nabers found out the physical and mental toll recovering from such a significant injury would entail ups and downs in the process, everything from lack of flexion in his knee to a second "cleanup" procedure to eliminate stiffness.The original thought from the Giants was that he would be back in the spring. Then even the summer and training camp was in doubt."He had a slow comeback process just due to the severity of his injury," said Dr. Sharif "Reef" Tabbah, a physical therapist who worked with Nabers in Miami earlier this year.Nabers tried hard to keep his faith, believing and telling himself everything was going to be fine when, in reality, he had no idea. The thoughts were bouncing like a ping pong ball off a wall, volleyed away but returning with a vengeance."He was definitely struggling. You could tell he was struggling with the process," said Giants coach John Harbaugh, who was hired in January. "He even told me he was never hurt before, how hard it was. I think every little up and down in the process would really affect him emotionally, mentally, whatever."Nabers was going through an internal battle during a long and hard rehab. Through it all, he was trying to find himself. There were days when he was searching for answers but couldn't find them. He would have to figure out where and when they would come from. It wasn't going to be easy."I kind of lost myself in the process," Nabers said while opening up about his rehab for the first time.NABERS' INJURY HISTORY prior to the Giants was not extensive. There was a shoulder injury that forced him to miss a couple of games at LSU his freshman season. He had some problems with his toe in New York, but nothing major. No long-term injuries or extended periods out of football.This knee injury was a new experience that drew Nabers into a scary, unexpected place."Just my attitude," Nabers said of why he lost himself. "Everybody didn't know what my mindset was. Just at a loss for words. Didn't really have a lot of words to say. Didn't really have, I don't know, I kind of was empty. Just didn't know what the future holds, how I was going to respond, just with everything that was going on. Everybody just didn't know."There were days when his knee swelled, when it was stiff and didn't bend. His progress, if it was outlined in a graph, might resemble the stock market during its most volatile month.This sent Nabers into a tailspin. He was fighting himself."My mind was just all over the place. I didn't really understand and didn't really want to communicate well," he said. "Just didn't know how to communicate how I was feeling and how things were going because every day it was something new. ... So I just didn't know, I just didn't really see a process. I didn't really see progress from week to week."Nabers said he didn't lean on anyone in particular, not even Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, one of his closest friends -- who also spent this past offseason combating an injury-plagued season. He was around Giants running back Cam Skattebo a bunch as they both rehabbed injuries -- Skattebo suffered an open fracture to his right leg in October of last year and still ultimately returned for the start of mandatory minicamp before Nabers. But Nabers kept to himself. He didn't feel like sharing."When he was in that deep place, I was in that deep place, too. We were both together," Skattebo said. "We were both in that same spot as not being able to say anything, not being able to express ourselves. ... He wasn't seeing the progress that he wanted but as he kept going and up until now, he's starting to feel that progress that's being made."In a way, it was an extension of Nabers' nature. He is generally a quiet guy."When you go through an internal battle with yourself you start to figure out what you need better than other people telling you what you need when they don't know you," Nabers said. "... You start finding more about yourself that you didn't know yet. ... So I just went through it myself."RECOVERY FROM A torn ACL can be a beast. Adding a full meniscus repair only adds to the difficulty.It's why Nabers was still walking with crutches and wearing a brace in January, some two-plus months after the surgery was performed by Dallas Cowboys head team physician Daniel E. Cooper -- a renowned doctor known for recently operating on other NFL players such as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. Typically, full meniscus repair adds to the recovery timeline. It turned out to be the case for Nabers, who almost didn't play Week 1 roughly a year after his injury."His rehab protocol was a little bit slow," Tabbah said. "He had a lot of limitations still with mobility and strength and tolerance of functional exercises and things like that. So we were in that phase of ... tolerating different functional movement patterns and trying to get him ready to progress to that later stage."Dr. Reef, as he is known, is a doctor of physical therapy and certified strength and conditioning specialist who founded Alkeme Sports RX in South Florida. He has worked with a long list of professional athletes, including Commanders wide receiver Stephon Diggs last year as he rehabbed from a torn ACL.Dr. Reef worked with Nabers in Florida for most of February through May. He admitted it was a "challenging rehab case." But, along with new Giants trainer Adam Bennett, they together a plan that would be best for Nabers' healing. Together, they monitored the wide receiver's rehab, and early on in the process, Nabers needed the mental boost."I just try to give them reassurance and just let them know, 'Hey, this will pass. I know this is tough right now, but this is where you are today. It's not where you're going to be in months to come,'" Dr. Reef said. "I know this is your first rodeo when it comes to dealing with something like this, but it's not mine."It was Dr. Reef's 15th season working with athletes. Diggs' ability to return to the field strong last season was a selling point Tabbah noted. He also kept reminding Nabers his process was different from everyone else's and warned against Nabers comparing himself to others because no injury is the same. Each comes with its own complexities.It was when Nabers was back working with the Giants in the spring when significant strides were made. He had a second procedure in early spring, considered a cleanup to remove scar tissue and decrease stiffness."We had gone on the field, done a little bit of some footwork. We had done some bag work a little bit," Dr. Reef said. "And then every time we'd make some progress, he'd get a flare up and we'd go backwards. So that's when we eventually said, 'Hey, let's get this thing cleaned out.'"Nabers then began making significant progress late in the spring/early in the summer working with rehabilitation and return-to-play coordinator Allison Boudtrou and the Giants' medical staff. He spent a good chunk of his summer getting well in New Jersey.The end was in sight.The Giants thought it was important for Nabers to get on the field this summer. They decided not to have him start on the physically unable to perform list. It was important for Nabers to do what he could to get over both the physical and mental humps.Even when he wasn't able to do much physical movement in the spring, the Giants were managing his mind as much as his body. Wide receivers coach Chad Hall made him go through walk-throughs just to get his focus off the weight of rehab.Nabers wanted to start by learning one position in the new offense. Hall and the Giants said no. They wanted to give him more to keep him occupied and ready. They were managing his mindset."Challenge him in different ways so he can focus more on [the football] stuff," Hall said.That is where Nabers thrives -- playing football. It's where he wanted to be and the Giants were working to get him there.NABERS WAS ON the field practicing at the start of this season's training camp. Considering where he was a few months earlier, it's hardly a surprise that he said his "soul came back to life," after practicing in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. He was ready for the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys despite legitimate uncertainty about whether he would actually play.Finally in his happy place. No longer lost. Still waiting for the breakthrough."I guess I'm still waiting for that moment," Nabers said.Even though he looks good and the production is there, the star wide receiver believes there is still more progress to be made mentally and physically. Nabers was insistent the first few weeks of the 2026 season that he was "rusty." He was slipping coming out of routes and still learning to trust the right knee.Then he had a stretch of four straight 100-yard games that ended Sunday in Week 9 at Philadelphia. He currently ranks 11th in the NFL with 648 receiving yards on 53 catches.It seems Nabers, who took offense this week to Fox broadcaster Greg Olsen's comments about his body language, is back to his pre-injury form. But don't tell him that."Working on it," he said. "Working on it."The biggest thing he has learned is patience. Nabers also still believes there's more to go physically. He feels he can get stronger and improve flexion in the knee. But there's likely always going to be a next level he's looking to reach.The wide receiver is admittedly in a better place but wouldn't say he's happy with what he has accomplished so far.In his mind, the comeback is not yet complete.
