New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers will be given all the time he needs to recover from his left ankle sprain.
Nabers, who was the No. 6 pick in the draft, twisted his ankle while running a route during practice on Sunday and missed the last 30 minutes of the session. He did not practice on Monday and was not on the field.
Coach Brian Daboll did not speculate on whether Nabers will play on Saturday when the Giants face the Texans in Houston. He mentioned that Nabers, who has been a standout in training camp with his impressive pass-catching skills, was sore on Monday.
“We’ll back off him, take it day to day, but that’s where we’re at with him,” Daboll said, adding that he did not think Nabers fractured his ankle.
Nabers played briefly in the Giants’ win over Detroit in their preseason opener on Thursday but did not catch a pass.
Given Nabers’ strong early performance, Daboll was asked about his status several times.
“Yeah, look, if he’s ready to play, then he’ll play,” the third-year head coach said. “And if they say, ‘we need to back off’, we need to back off. So, you’d like to see everybody be able to be out there and play, but you understand this is a contact sport. So, I think every team goes through it.
And if the guys are ready to play, they’ll play. If they’re not, they won’t.”
Backup quarterback Drew Lock, who started the preseason opener but had to leave late in the first quarter with a hip injury, has been impressed by Nabers.
“He’s going to be a game-changer the first day he steps out there,” Lock said Monday. “People are going to have to worry about him, teams are going to have to worry about him. That’s going to help everybody on this team. He’s been impressive.”
Lock is unsure about his own status for Saturday. He mentioned that he was hit on his left side but feels he is improving and has thrown the ball the past two days.
Daniel Jones is expected to start the game at quarterback. It will be his first game action since tearing an ACL in Las Vegas last November.
