Your friendly Naber-hood wide receiver believes he has a super power that allows him to leave defenders trying to cover him in the dust.
Peter Parker called it a “spider sense’’ or a “spider tingle.’’
For Malik Nabers, perhaps it is the “spider separation’’ that, well, separates him from all others.
“I have that little Spider-Man talent,’’ Nabers said Friday at the Giants facility, accompanied by his mother, cousin, uncle and agent. “When I feel somebody on the field, I know how close out-of-bounds is. I just know how to react to the ball, late, late hands, understanding where the defender can be on my route.’’
If this works out the way the Giants envision — sometimes it does, by the way — Nabers, a product of LSU, will be the centerpiece of a new and improved offense, a difference-maker in the passing game and an instant and attractive option for Daniel Jones.
Never before have the Giants taken a wide receiver this high — No. 6 overall — in an NFL draft.
Previously, Ike Hilliard (seventh overall in 1997) was the highest pick the Giants used on a receiver.
With great power and draft status comes great responsibility.
Nabers does not turn 21 until July 28 — right at the start of his first NFL training camp — and the Giants can’t wait to see him on the field, doing his thing.
His thing, more than any other player in this draft, is an innate physical ability to extricate himself from a defensive back assigned to stick with him.
“It’s just second nature,’’ Nabers said. “It’s just me being an athlete, me being a dawg, going out there and always being that person that the quarterback can rely on, get the ball to, having that confidence in myself and the quarterback, when the ball’s in the quarterback’s hands, Malik’s gonna be open.’’
Nabers is exceptionally fast (4.35 in the 40-yard dash) but does not stand out as far as his size or catch radius.
It is the way he competes for the ball and the way he gets himself open, no matter what, that convinced the Giants he was not only worth their first-round pick, but that he was worth passing up quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the process of making the pick.
“I think at that position, the toughness,’’ general manager Joe Schoen said. “Some of the competitiveness, some of the best ones I’ve been around, they have that. It’s going to be 20-some receivers taken between [Thursday] and [Friday] and Saturday. What separates all the guys that are 6-foot that are 200 pounds and run a 4.45, there’s a bunch of them out there. To me it always goes back to grit, toughness, tenacity. You can’t coach that. You can’t teach that. I think this kid best illustrates it.’’
The LSU wide receiver legacy is real, with Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. and Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase going from Baton Rouge to NFL royalty.
Nabers believes he most closely plays like Chase, the Bengals’ star.
“We got that same frame, I get a lot of comparisons,’’ Nabers said, before quickly adding, “I’m just hoping to try to be the best Malik Nabers I can possibly be.’’
Nabers, since receiving the call from the Giants, has been in touch with Beckham and Chase.
He said Beckham did not give him any specific feedback about the Giants, the franchise that took Beckham in the first round in 2014.
The main message: Be who you always have been.
Nabers also spoke with his new quarterback.
He said Jones told him, “I’m happy that you’re here, we’re gonna hit the ground running.’’
The Giants say they thoroughly investigated Nabers’ arrest in February 2023 on a gun charge.
Nabers, 19 years old at the time, was on Bourbon Street when New Orleans police officers noticed an “L-shaped object’’ in Nabers’ front pants pocket.
When Nabers told the officers that he did not have a permit for the gun, he was arrested.
Three months later, the charge was dismissed, with the New Orleans District Attorney’s office explaining Nabers was a college student with no prior criminal record and that he voluntarily turned in the gun.
There is video evidence of the arrest, which the Giants say they viewed.
“We’ve got an extensive process in terms of background on these guys,’’ Schoen said. “We have other resources that we reach out to and use, whether it’s boots on the ground on the campus, in the cities, wherever it may be. We’re very comfortable with the players we turn the card in on.’’
Nabers said the arrest was “a learning experience.’’
It did not affect his draft status.
“It’s something we all go through in life,’’ he said. “I’m glad that I’m here today talking past it.’’