There are several young players with things to accomplish over the final two games
The 2-13 New York Giants are bad. No one will blame Giants’ fans who choose not to watch the final two games. There are, though, several young players worth paying attention to if you are looking for reasons to watch.
Malik Nabers — The Giants’ first-round pick is still playing, and playing well, despite dealing with a variety of injuries and having his production limited by a dysfunctional offense and poor quarterback play. That’s a credit to the ‘DAWG’ mentality that attracted the Giants to Nabers in the 2024 draft.
Nabers has 969 receiving yards. He can become the Giants’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018 with 31 more receiving yards.
Nabers needs three catches to become the first rookie receiver in franchise history to reach 100. That would also make him the first receiver since Beckham, with 101 receptions in 2018 to hit the century mark.
Nabers needs just eight receptions to tie the rookie record of 105 receptions, set just last year by Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams. Nabers trails Las Vegas Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers (101 receptions) by four catches. Both seem destined to break that mark.
Nabers is also within reach of Steve Smith’s single-season franchise record of 107 receptions. Smith set that mark in 2009.
Tyrone Tracy — The fifth-round pick has given the Giants what they wanted in a Saquon Barkley replacement — a young, productive, inexpensive back.
Tracy’s pace as a runner has slowed in recent weeks. That isn’t necessarily his fault, as four of the last five losses have been games that were decided long before the final whistle, rendering running the ball useless in the second halves of those games.
Still, despite touching the ball only 16 times in the season’s first four weeks, Tracy has 721 rushing yards and needs only 16 yards to hit 1,000 total scrimmage yards.
Pretty impressive. And promising.
Elijah Chatman — The 5-foot-10 (he’s listed at 6-foot but admitted to me he’s 5-10), 280-pound undrafted free agent rookie excited fans with his hustle and production during the preseason.
Chatman was limited to a pass-rushing role most of the season, but injuries to Dexter Lawrence, Armon Watts, and D.J. Davidson have pushed him into a full-time role. Chatman is handling the added playing time well.
“Chat has done a really good job, increasing his workload on early downs,” defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said last week. “There’s some teach tape clips of him in the run game, fundamentally getting off the ball and striking, where he’s done a really good job being disruptive for us.”
Dru Phillips — The Giants missed out on cornerbacks Kamari Lassiter and Kool-Aid McKinstry in Round 2 of the 2024 draft. They took Phillips, the last cornerback GM Joe Schoen said the organization had a Day 2 grade on, in Round 3.
Phillips has been excellent.
Among 126 qualifying cornerbacks, Phillips has the sixth-highest overall defensive grade among cornerbacks. Phillips is ranked 26th among 110 cornerbacks in run defense. His 106.7 passer rating against is only 100th out of 126 graded players, but his 9.3 yards per reception allowed is 19th.
Phillips has learned this season that he belongs:
“Coming in, you hear about the NFL guys, and I give everyone the benefit of the doubt,” Phillips told The Post. “But I go out there and I’m like, ‘Oh s–t, I’m pretty damn good, too.’ I’ve been out there going against the best, and I can hang.”
The biggest hole in Phillips’ game is that he does not make plays on the ball. He does not have an interception or even a pass breakup all season. He did not earn an interception in 38 games at Kentucky, either.
Dyontae Johnson — The young inside linebacker, who spent the 2023 season on the practice squad, lost a spot on the 53-man roster when a late-summer ankle injury landed him on Injured Reserve. He is finally back on the active roster and gets a couple of games to show what he can do.
Evan Neal — I know, I know. We’re all tired of talking about Neal. We know his clunky movement skills handicap him at times as a pass blocker at right tackle. His run blocking, though, has been a revelation. Neal has the fifth-highest PFF run-blocking grade among 78 qualifying tackles. How interesting would it be if the Giants slid him to guard for the final two games? That might even let Tyre Phillips see some action.
Jalin Hyatt — This has been a lost season for the speedy 2023 third-round pick. He has only eight receptions on 18 targets and has been buried behind Nabers, Darius Slayton, and Wan’Dale Robinson.
Right now, it’s hard to think of Hyatt as more than a one-trick pony occasional deep threat playing without a quarterback who can take advantage of that.
The Giants are also likely to lose Slayton in free agency, and it is also hard to think of Hyatt as a viable replacement as the No. 2 outside wide receiver. Over two seasons he has caught just 31 of 58 targets (53.4%), has five drops and three passes intended for him have been intercepted.
Hyatt has not been what the Giants hoped he would be when they traded up to select him in the third round of the 2023 draft. Can he show something in the next two weeks that might give them hope he can be more than he has been?
Jake Kubas — Joe Schoen did not select any offensive linemen in the 2024 draft. He did sign Kubas as an undrafted free agent, and the former North Dakota State lineman has spent most of the season inactive on game days.
Kubas has now gotten to play in three games and received his first start last week when left guard Aaron Stinnie was sidelined with a concussion.
Kubas has played only 88 snaps, but he is intriguing. His run blocking (89.6 PFF grade in just 18 snaps) has been nearly elite. His pass blocking (40.0 PFF grade, three pressures allowed in 70 snaps) has left something to be desired. Still, there might be something there to work with. Maybe we will get to see more in the next couple of weeks.
Darius Muasau — Most Giants fans did not know who Muasau was when the Giants selected him in the sixth round, or where he might fit other than on special teams. Schoen said only that Muasau was “a good football player.”
Well, guess what? It looks like he is.
An inside linebacker, Muasau has played full-time in recent weeks with Bobby Okereke sidelined by a back injury. He has 25 tackles over the last three games and has acquitted himself well enough to make you believe he can be more than a special teams-only player going forward.
Cor’Dale Flott — It is still hard to fathom that the 23-year-old Flott, in his third season, is one of the six youngest players on the Giants’ roster. Pushed to outside cornerback this year by the presence of Phillips despite maybe 180 pounds, Flott has done an acceptable job. His passer rating against is a solid 89.4.
Flott might be best suited to be a fourth cornerback, filling in both on the outside and the slot. If he can continue to develop, though, maybe he is a starting-caliber player.
