The Knee Was the Whole Plan. It Keeps Being the Question.

Malik Nabers is active, which is the good news. The knee soreness that had him listed Questionable heading into Week 5 did not keep him out, and the Giants got their receiver on the field. But as I noted two days ago, this is now a pattern, not an incident — the same knee, the same designation, the same week of uncertainty that resolves just barely in time.

The offseason was built around him returning. That was the premise. Nabers missed most of 2025 with a torn ACL and appeared in only four games, and the Giants structured their receiver room with the expectation that a healthy version of him would be the thing that made J.J. McCarthy's transition manageable. Wan'Dale Robinson had a strong 2025, and Theo Johnson has been a reliable target at tight end, but Nabers was supposed to be the separator — the player who changes what a defense has to account for.

What the Giants have instead is a receiver who is technically available but whose availability has to be re-established every week. That is a different thing. The ACL was the injury everyone tracked. The knee soreness that keeps surfacing is quieter, easier to wave off, and harder to plan around.

He played. That matters. But the Giants need him healthy in November, not just cleared on a Friday in October.