This year, the New York Giants became the first NFL team to have an offseason version of Hard Knocks.
Thus far, the four episodes have shown the NFL world things and given them insight they’ve never seen before, specifically around the draft and free agency.
One of the focal points of Episode 4, and something eluded to earlier in the series, was the 2024 NFL draft and LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, whom the Giants selected sixth overall.
Interestingly, Nabers has not seen a single episode, including the one all about him.
“I haven’t seen really any episodes. I don’t like really waiting for episodes to come out, so I want to wait and just watch it all in a day where I can just sit down and chill,” Nabers told reporters on Friday.
In this new age of streaming services, many people have adopted that attitude. But when pressed further and asked if he had even seen some online clips, Nabers insisted the show remains entirely spoiler-free to him.
“No, I’ve never seen any clips from Hard Knocks. I hear about it, they come up to me all the time, ask me about it. I’ve never seen anything. My friends always ask me about it, too. I haven’t seen any episodes about it though,” he said.
So, no, he hasn’t seen the footage of receivers coach Mike Groh telling Joe Schoen that he’d take Nabers over Marvin Harrison Jr.
His reaction to learning about the conversation?
“Groh’s my guy. I guess when he watched my film, he saw how much athleticism that I have, getting a ball in open space and I could be a great guy in this receiver room,” Nabers said. “So, to have that person in my receiver coach that trusts me before he even got me here, you know, sky’s the limit for me.”
Trust was a common theme in Nabers’ discussion on Friday. Head coach Brian Daboll asked Nabers to call a play in practice and, well… The results spoke for themselves.
Daniel Jones goes deep to Malik Nabers! 💪 pic.twitter.com/sdqwBV0VHA
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) July 26, 2024
“It shows how much trust he has to give me the ball in open space or just let me run any route I want,” Nabers said. “So, to have that, as a head coach that’s got trust in you when you come into the third day of training camp, they try to understand how good of a player I am. For him to just ask me what kind of play I want and for him to call it, it shows how much trust he has in me.”
Nabers has the makings of being a stud in the NFL. If his on-field play correlates with his confidence and he keeps his emotions in check, he could have a long career ahead of him.