Malik Nabers, Tyrone Tracy are players to feel good about
If you are looking for bright spots in a miserable 2-11 season for the New York Giants, one has to be the production of rookies Malik Nabers and Tyrone Tracy.
Nabers, the wide receiver drafted No. 6 overall to be the team’s No. 1 receiving option, and Tracy, drafted in the fifth round to try and replace some of the production Saquon Barkley took with him, have had excellent rookie seasons.
Nabers leads the Giants with 80 catches, 819 yards and three touchdown receptions. Tracy is first on the team with 141 rushing attempts, 664 yards and five scores despite getting only 12 carries over the season’s first four games. The Giants are the first NFL team to have rookies lead in all those statistical categories since 2014, when Giants rookies Odell Beckham, Jr. and Andre Williams accomplished the feat.
Beckham topped the Giants that season with 91 catches for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns, all franchise rookie records. He did that despite missing the first four games with a hamstring injury.
Williams, a fourth-round draft choice from Boston College, had team-leading totals of 217 carries, 721 yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
The Giants are averaging an NFL-worst 14.9 points per game, and despite their production it is likely true that they have not gotten as much out of Nabers or Tracy as both are capable of.
Nabers caught 35 passes in his first four games, twice reaching double-digit receptions. He has only 45 in his last seven games. In those first four games, he had two 100+ yard receiving games. His highest total since was the 79 receiving yards he had Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
Tracy had three 100+ yard games in his first six as the Giants’ primary ballcarrier, but has just 119 yards on 34 carries in the last three games.
Both, though, are building blocks to be excited about.
