Malik Nabers' Trade Value for Fantasy Dynasty, Redraft Leagues After 2 TD vs. Browns

Malik Nabers is here, and he's spectacular.

The New York Giants rookie wide receiver had a pair of touchdown receptions—in just the first half!—during Sunday's matchup against the Cleveland Browns.

And that has fantasy football players in all formats feeling plenty excited about the young player's future prospects.

He's currently looking like a WR1 in dynasty leagues and a WR2 in redraft formats.

It's probably abundantly obvious to you, and perhaps barely even worth mentioning, that a rookie wide receiver who was a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL draft and already has three touchdown receptions in his short career is one of the most valuable players available in dynasty formats.

That level of production so early in a career is an NFL first, by the way:

And guys who make catches like this are going to be very good for a very long time:

Duh.

The more interesting conversation is how valuable Nabers will be for the rest of the season in redraft formats.

The usual concerns are always present with rookie wideouts, though Nabers has probably moved past them at this point. There's also the Daniel Jones factor, a player who is mediocre at the quarterback position at best.

The counterargument to all of that, of course, is that Nabers is an explosive talent and is basically the entirety of New York's offense at this point.

That isn't an overstatement—Nabers had 10 receptions on 18 targets last week in just his second NFL game. He has caught at least five passes in all three of his NFL games thus far. He truly appears well on his way to being the NFL's next great wideout.

So why only a WR2 given all of the above?

For one, teams are going to start doing everything they can to take him away, especially given New York's relative lack of weapons on offense. And Jones remains a shaky quarterback option.

Obviously, Nabers is a player who should be started every week, and if you wanted to pay WR1 prices for him in a trade, you couldn't be blamed. But it might be wise to hold off on doing so just yet to see how NFL teams adjust. Nabers seems likely to remain a high-end WR2 throughout the season, but however impressive he's been in his short NFL season, we're still working with a small sample size.

In dynasty formats, however, go wild. He'll be a difference-maker for years.