Giants' Malik Nabers Says 'I Kind of Lost Myself' During Recovery from Major Knee Injury

New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers discussed in candid detail his lengthy recovery from a torn ACL in 2025.

The third-year wideout told ESPN's Jordan Raanan he "kind of lost myself in the process."

Raanan pointed out that Nabers hadn't suffered a serious injury to that point in his football career. Experiencing this for the first time and not knowing when he'd be back weighed on him.

"Everybody didn't know what my mindset was," Nabers said. "Just at a loss for words. Didn't really have a lot of words to say. Didn't really have, I don't know, I kind of was empty. Just didn't know what the future holds, how I was going to respond, just with everything that was going on. Everybody just didn't know."

The 2024 Pro Bowler added that he struggled to articulate his internal thoughts.

"Just didn't know how to communicate how I was feeling and how things were going because every day it was something new," he said. "... So I just didn't know, I just didn't really see a process. I didn't really see progress from week to week."

The 2026 season got off to an uneven start for Nabers. After an encouraging showing in a Week 1 win over the Dallas Cowboys, he combined to have six receptions for 27 yards in the Giants' next two games.

Now, the 23-year-old is hitting his stride again. From Week 4 on, he has averaged 110.4 receiving yards per game with two touchdowns.

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The Giants have a lot of reasons to be happy as they sit first in the NFC East at 5-2-1. Nabers' reemergence as a No. 1 receiver is among the encouraging signs for the franchise's outlook.