Malik Nabers flashes ability, takes biggest step yet in Giants return

EAST RUTHERFORD − Malik Nabers’ mindset in New York Giants training camp has been all about stacking days.

Every practice. Every period. Every rep.

Each and every moment spent with the trainers and coaches, everyone, including Nabers, judging the way his surgically repaired knee looked and felt as he ran routes and caught passes.

Nabers has been the best story of Giants camp to this point, and it's not even close.

Now the star wide receiver has stacked his biggest day to date, and there is no reason to downplay it’s significance.

Nabers was not modeling a new color combination for the franchise when he jogged out onto the practice field Thursday for warm-ups in a red jersey with matching red cleats. It’s the universal sign around here for non-contact, and before the practice, only the three quarterbacks − Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston and Brandon Allen − have been in red.

Now there were four, and everyone realized what that meant. The build-up because of that over the first 75 minutes of practice was notable, and then it happened: Nabers lined up wide right with the second-team offense, opposite rookie cornerback Colton Hood and the first-team defense, ran an in-cut to the middle of the field where he caught a pass from Jameis Winston.

Nabers stopped running around the 25-yard line going in, dropped the football and pointed with both arms toward the end zone for what was a first down.

Sure, the 11-on-11 drill was being run at half-speed, but for Nabers, this was indeed progress.

He made two more catches after that − one from Allen that Nabers ran out entirely for a would-be touchdown.

One Giants player cheered, “Yeah Leek!” as Nabers began his celebration in the end zone with Winston sprinting the length of the field to join him and punctuate the moment.

His next catch came from Dart, who hit Nabers on a 15-yard out to the right side. It was clear Nabers was testing out the entire route tree, later snagging a short gain against the first-team defense on a comeback route.

“Yeah One!” Cam Skattebo yelped as Nabers got an escort from Darnell Mooney, another trip to the end zone.

The Giants certainly know Nabers changes the look of the offense the moment he steps into the huddle. He impressed everyone with how good he looked in Giants camp in West Virginia.

There will be much more challenging hurdles to clear, of course. We could get that as soon as Monday when the Giants return to the practice field for two days here before heading to Miami for a joint practice on Thursday and their second preseason game Saturday, Aug. 22 against the Dolphins.

The presence of Nabers is undeniable. The Giants have several players they consider franchise cornerstones, and Nabers is one of them.

"Dynamic. He's a dawg," Giants outside linebacker Brian Burns said of Nabers. "A lot of receivers, they got his mentality in my opinion, he wants the ball in crunch time. He wants the ball when the game is on the line. And you want that in your number one receiver. So, I know that kid likes to work so I can't wait to see him get back out there.”

When Harbaugh talked about the "slog" of rehab for Nabers this spring, it was as much mentally as it was physically. Nabers found a good mental space in June and was able to move better and seemingly have fun without thinking about his knee, protecting himself just the same.

How the wide receiver room comes together this summer with Nabers' recovery at the center of it all should go a long way in determining the offense's success, not to mention Jaxson Dart's leap into Year 2.

Nabers is eager to get back to where he was prior to his late September injury when his time with Dart was cut short after one quarter in the latter's debut in the victory over the Chargers.

Make no mistake: this was a table-setting practice for Nabers, and the Giants will wait with great anticipation for what comes next.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Malik Nabers flashes ability, takes biggest step yet in Giants return