Let’s review the rookies after four games
The New York Giants are a young team heavily dependent on its 2024 rookie class. With the season basically one-quarter over, let’s grade how the team’s 2024 class is performing.
Malik Nabers
Nabers has been exactly what the Giants hoped he would be — their best receiver since Odell Beckham Jr.
The No. 6 overall pick has been spectacular over the first four games of his career. He already has 35 receptions for 386 yards and three touchdowns.
Nabers is on pace for 149 receptions and 1,640 receiving yards. The Giants’ record for receptions in a season is 107, set by Steve Smith in 2009. Victor Cruz holds the record for receiving yards in a single season. He had 1,536 in 2011. Both of those records were set during 16-game seasons.
Nabers is averaging 95.5 yards receiving per game.
Nabers is second in the league in yards receiving, first in targets (52), third in Targeted Air Yards (the percentage of a team’s air yards) and 51.17%
The only blemish on Nabers’ resume thus far is three drops, a 5.8% drop rate. The only receiver with more drops is Amari Cooper of the Cleveland Browns, who has six.
Grade: A
Tyler Nubin
After missing some time early in training camp with an injury, the second-round pick took a starting safety job away from Dane Belton.
Nubin has played every defensive snap through the first four games. The best thing about Nubin’s play thus far? You don’t notice him a whole lot. He has been solid, a good place to start for a rookie safety when mistakes in the back of the defense can be disastrous.
Nubin is fourth on the team with 21 tackles, and has yet to miss a tackle. In pass coverage, he has been charged with allowing five completions in 10 targets with a passer rating against of a good 74.2.
The one thing we have yet to see from Nubin is the ball-hawking ability he displayed collegiately at Minnesota. Nubin had 12 interceptions over his final three seasons in college, including five in 2023. He has a forced fumble to his credit this season, but no interceptions or passes defensed.
Grade: B
Dru Phillips
GM Joe Schoen said during ‘Hard Knocks’ that Phillips was the last cornerback available to them in the draft who they were really interested in. They selected him in Round 3, and the slot cornerback is making that look like a good choice.
Phillips missed Week 4 with a calf injury and his status going forward isn’t known. In the three games he did play, though, Phillips was excellent.
Phillips’ 80.2 Pro Football Focus grade is 11th among all cornerbacks, and best among rookies. His 83.9 coverage grade is seventh overall. Phillips’ overall passer rating against is 82.3, and he has given up just 3.8 yards per completion.
Phillips has been an aggressive tackler, with 17 tackles, three for loss, and a sack. He has missed just one tackle. Like Nubin, he has one forced fumble but no interceptions or passes defensed.
Grade: B
Theo Johnson
The fourth-round pick out of Penn State has clearly been TE1 for the Giants through the first four games. Johnson has 212 snaps played while Daniel Bellinger expected to be the starting tight end, has only 59.
The Giants are high on the 6-foot-6, 264-pound rookie. They believe he has more athleticism, explosiveness and upside than Bellinger. They are probably right. Problem is, the results so far indicate that maybe force-feeding Johnson a full workload at the expense of the solid play they could get from Bellinger might not be the best approach.
Johnson has just three receptions for 37 yards in eight targets. He has two drops. His passer rating when targeted is just 52.6. Johnson’s PFF run-blocking grade of 42.0 is worse than every offense player except wide receivers Jalin Hyatt and Wan’Dale Robinson.
I think Johnson could turn out to be a really good player. Maybe these are just growing pains the coaching staff feels they have to let Johnson play through. It is fair to wonder, though, if limited packages that allow Johnson to focus on a few things each week might be the better way to help him develop.
Grade: D
Tyrone Tracy
Tracy really hasn’t had a ton of opportunities — perhaps not quite as many to this point as might have been expected as the Giants have leaned heavily on Devin Singletary.
Tracy has played just 66 offensive snaps. He has 12 carries for 29 yards (2.4 yards per carry), four receptions for 41 yards (10.3 yards per catch), and three kickoff returns for 61 yards (20.3 yards per return). He may already have lost his kickoff return spot after a fumble against the Dallas Cowboys.
I think there is more to come from Tracy, but for right now he has had a minimal impact.
Grade: C
Darius Muasau
The sixth-round pick played well Week 1 in place of the injured. Micah McFadden, getting an interception, a pass defensed, and six tackles. he missed Week 2 with a knee injury, and has been relegated to special teams the past two weeks.
Grade: C
Elijah Chatman
The undrafted free agent defensive tackle made the team with an exceptional summer. The start to his real NFL career has been quieter.
Chatman has played 76 defensive snaps (30.4%), including one start. He has a sack, a fumbled recovery, five tackles (one for loss), and a quarterback hit.
Chatman has been used primarily as a pass rusher, with 53 of his 76 snaps on passing plays. His Pro Football Focus run defense grade of only 46.7 might tell you why. conversely, his pass rush win percentage of 10% (per PFF) is 39th among 99 qualifying interior defensive linemen.
Grade: C
Jake Kubas
The undrafted free agent guard has been inactive for all four games.
Grade: Incomplete
