Giants Rookie Star Sparks Training Camp Brawl

In HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants,” Brian Daboll discusses his own research on the 2024 NFL Draft’s top prospects. He shares a conversation with Nick Saban when he called the former Alabama head coach for his opinions on the current college crop of talent.

“He goes, ‘There are two skill guys who are f——- problems,” Daboll recalled. “And they were big-time problems when we played them. The first one is Malik.”

That would be LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was identified by the Giants’ front office as the top option for their No. 5 overall selection (after general manager Joe Schoen was unable to swing a trade to move up to select one of the draft’s top quarterbacks).

Nabers has been every bit of the “baller” Daboll thought he would be. The 21-year-old wideout has given Giants defensive backs fits seemingly every day in training camp, as his potentially game-changing talents have been documented by the steady of stream of videos showing his circus catches.

For the last two days, Nabers has been the Detroit Lions’ problem. And the joint practices boiled over Tuesday with Nabers in the middle of a heated exchange that led to a brawl between the receiver and the Lions defense.

Lions safety Kirby Joseph came up to Nabers after one of the rookie’s rare incompletions. Nabers hit Joseph in the head as he jogged by. Joseph immediately ran down Nabers to get in his own shots, with the fisticuffs escalating from there.

Giants running back Devin Singletary jumped in to defend Nabers.

Nabers’ rationale for his run-in with Joseph getting physical was pretty simple. “Someone comes up running to me, says a few words, the rest is that,” he said.

No NFL veteran is going to tolerate a rookie torching him. However, cornerbacks can only be mad at themselves if Nabers keeps making incredible catches like this in the regular season.