Giants fans saw an extremely welcomed sight on the practice field Monday.
Star receiver Malik Nabers was able to participate in full team drills for the first time in his long recovery from a torn ACL.
Though Nabers wasn’t quite moving at full speed yet, and he was still rocking a red non-contact jersey, the team felt that it was an encouraging first step.
“He looked good,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “He was out there in the team periods in the non-contact jersey, guys did a good job of respecting that, he made some plays -- it was a big first step.”
According to reporters on the scene, Nabers took four reps at 11-on-11 and three in 7-on-7.
He wasn’t targeted at all during the 11-on-11 session, but had catches on all three of his reps during the latter period, including a nice leaping grab that finished things off.
Nabers then went and ran some more routes on the side with the training staff, as planned.
“I was feeling good -- caught some passes, went and ran some more routes to keep things moving forward towards getting more team reps," Nabers said. "My soul had been dead being out of the game for so long, so getting back out there with my teammates behind me, I kind of felt that soul come back to life."
Even with the encouraging step, the Giants will continue to play things safe with the 23-year-old.
Though a Week 1 return still appears to be on the table, it remains to be seen if he'll be fully ready or not.
“I hope he’s out there, I’m praying for it, but we’ll see,” Harbaugh said.
“The most important thing is my health,” Nabers added. “Just complete every milestone they have in front of me -- giving good effort, continue to come out and be a great teammate, and just continue to take the milestones day-by-day.”
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