Malik Nabers: The Giants ‘want me to speak up’

Nabers says he will continue to express how he feels, albeit perhaps more carefully

Malik Nabers bristled on Tuesday at the suggestion that as a rookie he did not have enough “clout” to speak his mind the way he on Sunday night, calling the New York Giants’ performance in a 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers “soft as f—k.”

“Why not? Just because I’m a rookie, I’m a part the team. I got added to this team to be a resource, to be somebody that can change the game. I’m not going to just sit back just because I’m a younger guy and not speak on how I feel,” Nabers said. “They want me to speak up. They feel like my energy helps the offense, in a way, to be explosive. So, of course, I’m going to speak up if something doesn’t go my way. That’s just how I am. I’m not going to just sit back and just let it go down just because I’m a young player.”

The Giants drafted Nabers No. 6 overall knowing exactly what they were getting:

There was also this summation from Giants’ college area scout Scott Hamel:

“Highly passionate. Highly competitive kid. Plays with a big-time chip on his shoulder. He’s a guy that always wanted the most targets. You’ll hear about if it he’s not getting them.

“We need to get around this kid and see if we can work with him. There is a lot to the personality.”

The youngest player on the Giants’ roster, Nabers’ frustration has grown as the Giants have lost six straight games to fall to 2-9. His warning that he would be “pretty hard on it” when he didn’t get the ball and have a chance to make a difference came to fruition Sunday night when he appeared to call out head coach Brian Daboll after not getting any targets in the first half as the Giants fell behind 23-0.

“I’m tired of going out there and losing,” Nabers said. “It’s just that.”

“First, second quarter, I don’t get the ball,” Nabers said. “Start getting targets at the end. I mean, can’t do nothing. Start getting the ball when it’s 30-0. What do you want me to do?”

“Talk to Dabs about that,” Nabers said when asked why he isn’t getting the ball earlier in the game. “They come up to me and ask me what plays I want and that was that. I don’t know.”

Tuesday, Nabers’ said he didn’t think the performance was “soft.” He just didn’t think it was good enough.

“If I had an opportunity to go back and change the words that I said, I would,” he said. “But I still stand on what I said. I said it. I don’t have no regrets with what I said. But, after looking at the film, we just lacked technique.”

Nabers didn’t sound like a player who will be afraid to speak his mind going forward.

“That’s the competitor that they want in the locker room. You want a competitor. You don’t want somebody who is just happy with losing,” he said. “That’s just the competitor in me. That’s just how I’m wired. That’s just who I am. I just don’t like losing. If I feel like if I had an opportunity to help the team win, I’m going to express that.”

Nabers said he wants the ball early in games simply because he wants the opportunity to make a difference. Here is how he put it:

“Because it creates… It’s just a start. If you start later on in a game, it’s like your body’s not ready. Your body hasn’t been… You come into the game prepared, right? If you take one quarter off, two quarters off, your body just starts lacking. It’s like you don’t even want to play no more. I’m not saying that’s how I feel. I’m just saying that’s your body. You’re not getting involved early then you’re not getting the feel of the ball, you’re not getting hit. After football plays as an offense, after you get hit, you’re like, ‘All right, I’m ready to go.’ So, that’s how I feel. I haven’t been feeling that way in the first or second quarter. So, I get in the third quarter and I’m not as energetic as I was before. That’s all I was saying. I need to get the ball early so I can make a change on the game early on instead of just later on in the game. That’s all it really was.”