Malik Nabers, the New York Giants’ most explosive play-maker on offense, is gone for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. He is, as quarterback Jaxson Dart has said, “one of one.” The Giants cannot and will not be able to conjure up a player who can do all of the things for them that Nabers could do.
They still, though, have 13 games to play. They have to find the best ways they can to run good offense and give rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart a chance to develop and succeed. Someone has to fill Nabers’ spot in the lineup and catch passes from Dart.
That’s life in the NFL. A player goes down, sometimes a star player, and other players have to play. Those other players get an opportunity to show whether or not they can be more than their team had previously been asking them to be.
For the Giants, the obvious candidates to get the snaps that would have gone to Nabers are third-year wide receiver Jalin Hyatt and undrafted rookie Beaux Collins. Maybe the Giants elevate someone like Lil’Jordan Humphrey from their practice squad. Maybe they add someone from another team’s practice squad, or sign a street free agent. Maybe they eventually make a trade for a receiver they think could help them.
For now, though, Hyatt and Collins are likely to get the bulk of the chances. I spoke with each in the Giants’ locker room this week.
Collins: “I’m like a Swiss Army knife”
Victor Cruz joined the Giants in 2010 as an undrafted free agent out of UMass, and was a star from 2011 until suffering a devastating knee injury in 2014. Since then, Giants fans have waited … and waited … and waited while hoping the team finds another Cruz.
Corey Washington. Travis Rudolph. Alonzo Russell. Alex Bachman. Tight end Chris Conrad. Bryce Ford-Wheaton. All teased fans in preseason. None ever made a receiving impact in real NFL games.
What of Collins, the former Notre Dame wide receiver who is now the latest Giants undrafted free agent receiver?
“As a receiver, I always want to go out there and make plays, score touchdowns, things like that,” Collins said. “I’m striving to be the best receiver I can be, obviously.
“But if the coaches put me on special teams, I’ve got to kind of shift the blinders towards that, be the best special team player I can be. So wherever my feet are at in the moment, that’s what I really try to look forward to. I’ve got goals and just being in the league for a long time and things like that.”
Collins is 6-foot-3, 206 pounds. He has gotten 32 offensive snaps without a target so far this season, and has made two tackles while playing 51 special teams snaps.
Dane Brugler of The Athletic correctly listed Collins as a priority free agent in his 2025 draft guide. Brugler wrote:
A loose, limber athlete, Collins can alter his pacing mid-route and flashes a second gear to run under the deep ball. However, while the separation tools are there, the execution is lacking. He has the body control to make back-shoulder grabs look routine, but focus drops were an issue.
Overall, Collins doesn’t have the tape or production of a playmaker, but he has draftable traits — that might be enough for a team to believe in his potential.
“I feel like I bring that all-around game as far as route running, catching, blocking,” Collins said. “I could be a nub tight end if you need me to. Stuff like that, man. I’m an all-around guy. I’d say I’m like a Swiss Army knife a little bit.”
Collins excited fans with an 80-yard catch and run in a preseason game against the New York Jets. There were, though, two times passes intended for him were intercepted when there appeared to be a miscommunication between Collins and the quarterback.
Collins said he learned the importance of “always being on the same page as the Qs” from those plays.
“Just got to go out there and be a ballplayer on both sides, whether that’s the receiver or the QB. Just go out there and make the plays,” Collins said.
How does that happen?
“It’s just easy conversations, whether that’s during practice, after practice, in a hotel, before the game, things like that,“ Collins said. ”Where you want me to be here? When you get to the top of your drop, what are you looking at? Stuff like that.“
Collins knows no one will be able to replace Nabers by himself.
“There’s not another Malik. But there’s definitely not another Jalin. There’s not another me as well,” he said. “We all bring certain things to the table. And it’s going to be exciting to see what we do from here on out, man. We’re going to miss Malik for sure, but we still got a lot of ball to play.”
Hyatt: “We have to all step up. It starts with me”
The Giants traded up in the 2023 NFL Draft to select Hyatt in Round 3. After watching him torch Alabama, GM Joe Schoen just couldn’t shake feeling Hyatt’s speed from the sideline and seeing in person what it could do to a good defense.
Unfortunately, the Giants — and Hyatt — are still waiting for that game-breaking ability to translate at the NFL level.
Hyatt caught 23 passes and averaged 16.2 yards per reception in a rookie year that did not satisfy anyone, but hinted at his play-making potential. Since then, though, he has been an afterthought.
Hyatt caught just eight passes in 19 targets a year ago, averaging 7.6 yards per catch. This year, he had only played six snaps before the injury to Nabers. He played 29 snaps after Nabers was injured in Week 4. He still does not have a target this season.
“I just want to ball out for my teammates, who have always been on my side, who have helped me through everything I’ve been through,” Hyatt said. “Obviously, i just want to ball for Jax as well, a new quarterback.
“I want to do what I know I’m capable of doing.”
It’s been a rough couple of seasons for Hyatt.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Hyatt said. “And now it’s like, let’s make it count.”
Hyatt is trying to take the opportunity in stride.
“I’m not making more than what it is,” Hyatt said. “I felt like I did that last year. I’m just going to go out here and just ball. Don’t even think about anything. Just do what I do. Play my game. I know Jax is going to put me in the right spots.
What did Hyatt mean by “making more than what it is”?
“Not making football more than what that is,” Hyatt said. “I’ve been playing this game since I was a kid. And once you overthink things or once you think you have to do more than what you need to do, then your mind is racing. And then you’re not even focused on what you’ve got to do.
“I changed that this year. I knew I would get my opportunities, didn’t know when. For me it’s let me stay ready, let me be ready. Whenever that time is I’m going to be ready.”
Hyatt, of course, did not want his chance to come at Nabers’ expense.
“I didn’t want it to go the way it did. Leek is one of my guys. The way he went out, it hurts me,” Hyatt said. “But now it’s like, alright, let me do this for Leek, let me do this for my teammates, let me do this for Dabs [Brian Daboll],” Hyatt said. “I just can’t wait, man.”
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