In his first four career games, Malik Nabers has taken the NFL by storm. Heading into Thursday night, Nabers led all WRs in targets and PPR points. He continued his dominance with a third-straight 100-yard receiving game against the Cowboys in the NFL’s kickoff to Week 4.
Unfortunately, Nabers suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter (1:53 mark in the video above). Things looked pretty bad, as Nabers stayed on the ground for a significant amount of time. While it remains to be seen if he will miss any games, Nabers did post that he was “all good” on his Instagram following the game.
Malik Nabers shares an update saying he’s “all good” 🙏
Nabers was ruled out in the 4th quarter with a concussion tonight vs. Cowboys pic.twitter.com/TiUaZJKm65
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 27, 2024
Perhaps lost in Nabers’ brilliance to this point has been the numbers that Wan’Dale Robinson has put up as the WR2 in the Giants offense this season. Heading into Thursday night, Robinson’s 24 targets was tied for 15th in the entire NFL. After Robinson’s 14 targets only trailed Nabers by one against the Cowboys, we will surely see him climb even higher up the target leaderboard when Week 4 wraps up.
Robinson has had a rough go of it in his career so far. After being drafted by the Giants with the 43rd overall pick in the 2022 draft, Robinson tore his ACL right as he was starting to pick up steam in his rookie season. He was able to come back early in 2023, but mostly underwhelmed along with the rest of an overmatched Giants passing game during his sophomore season.
Even with all of the volume Robinson has gotten so far in 2024, he only ranked as the PPR WR36 after three games. Largely due to an air yards per target (AY/T) mark of 4.2, Robinson did not exceed 61 receiving yards in any of the first three weeks of the season. As Nabers starts to attract considerably more defensive attention, can Robinson take advantage and create a breakout of his own?
While Robinson’s numbers may not look great on the surface, there were some positives to take away from his first two seasons. As the Giants’ primary slot receiver, Robinson earned a 19% target share in 2022 and an 18% target share in 2023 in games in which he was active. Due to his air yards per target numbers (6.2 in 2022; 5.3 in 2023) and shiftiness after the catch, he has finished in the top-seven of all WRs in RACR in each of his two seasons — including WR3 overall in 2023.
It is hard to determine how healthy Robinson actually was last year following his ACL injury, but he has looked good to start the 2024 season. In the Week 3 WR Advanced Stats article, Robinson was a surprising name in the list of eight players who are currently posting targets per game and an evasion percentage that would have ranked in the 90th percentile or above in both metrics from a five-year sample ranging from 2019 to 2023.
When looking at the areas of the field where Nabers and Robinson have been able to do most of their damage through three weeks of 2024, the two WRs complement each other incredibly well. And where better to have a real-life Batman and Robin(son) than in the real-world version of Gotham City?
Wan’Dale Robinson Pass By Location — Week 1-3 2024
Malik Nabers Pass By Location — Week 1-3 2024
To put it bluntly, Nabers and Robinson are the only game in town for the Giants at WR. Through four games, the only WRs outside of Nabers and Robinson to earn a target are Darius Slayton (15) and Jalin Hyatt (3). Of the two, Slayton is the only one to convert any of his targets; currently coming in with a receiving stat line of 10-122-0 for the season.
Nabers’ 23.1 PPR points and the injury he sustained against the Cowboys will certainly grab all of the headlines, but Robinson’s 18.1 PPR points are a welcome addition for anyone who had the foresight (and/or the need) to put him into their lineups. After Thursday’s game, Robinson is averaging 13.2 PPR points per game — a pace that would equal 224.4 PPR points over a 17-game season. When compared to 2023, that would have landed Robinson as the overall WR22 for the entire season.
If Nabers is forced to miss time, Robinson’s outlook will go down, not up. Even if he was not at full health last season, Robinson has not had the look of a player that should be an offense’s primary receiver to this point in his career. But as long as Nabers is on the field, he won’t have to be. In this new-look Giants passing offense, Robinson has the sneaky upside to be a high-floor WR3/FLEX play for the rest of the season. Robinson should be a priority add next week in any league where he is still available on waivers, as the Giants have plenty of advantageous matchups in the coming weeks.
