Tom Rock: Are the Giants and fans on the verge of seeing the real Malik Nabers?

We’ve been here before with Malik Nabers, on the verge of seeing what he is capable of as a player. Then something happens to deprive us and the Giants of that joy.

As a rookie it was a seismic quarterback change that benched Daniel Jones after 10 games and brought on a line of backups with whom Nabers struggled to gain chemistry. Last year he exploded with Russell Wilson in the Dallas game, experienced another change at quarterback, then finally seemed to get the long-term passer he’d been hankering for in Jaxson Dart. Less than halfway through their first game together Nabers tore his ACL.

This year, after recovering from that injury, Nabers was back on the field for the opener but clearly not in top physical form. And before his second game had ended it was Dart who was lost for the season to a knee blowout. It meant trying to create a relationship with Jameis Winston on the fly, all while putting the finishing touches on his own rehab and, yes, very publicly asking for more opportunities in the passing game.

Circumstances always seem to get away with defensive holding against him on his route to elite superstardom.

On Sunday, though, it looked like it was all starting to come together for him. Again. Nabers and Winston demonstrated their budding connection to the tune of 11 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown on a whopping 20 targets. It was the second week in a row he had over 100 receiving yards with a touchdown, the first time he’s done that in back-to-back games in his career.

Nabers has been very good despite all those hurdles and limitations. Through 24 career games he has 158 catches; only Odell Beckham Jr., Michael Thomas and Brock Bowers had more than 150 in their first 25. Beyond-solid stats no doubt. Yet all along it has felt like he is capable of so much more. It’s something even he senses.

“I feel like I haven’t reached my full potential yet,” he said on Thursday. “Still trying to take it to the next level.”

Now is his next opportunity to do that.

We could finally be entering the era we’ve been promised but denied since Nabers was taken with the sixth overall pick in 2024.

Welcome to the age of Peak Leek.

Still just 23 years old, he has a chance in the next few games to become top-tier All-Pro-level great. He’s often included in the conversation among the best receivers in the league as a hypothetical what-if. A few more games like the last two – or better – should make him a concrete mainstay there.

“The sky’s the limit for Leek,” tight end Isaiah Likely said. “Whether he catches the ball, scores a touchdown, is running down the sideline for a block, I'm always screaming ‘Uno is back!’ just to tell him and to put that in his ear so he remembers who he is.”

There could be even more beyond that. Nabers said he thinks having this coming offseason to focus on getting stronger and better rather than just recovering from his injury will pay off with a “huge step” in 2027.

Let’s get through 2026 first. After all it’s the first time in his career he’s played in all of the first five games on the schedule.

Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said that in his first few games coaching Nabers this season he noticed a lot of positives, but also limitations. “He was a little hesitant, which is natural,” Nagy said of the receiver’s return from his serious injury.

Lately, though, Nagy has noticed something else: That he doesn’t notice that any longer.

“To me, that's a massive jump,” he said. “When you don't see it in practice, when you don't see it in the game, that’s when you see that growth. To me it's still day-to-day for him, but, man, he's looking good.”

Nabers still feels held back by his knee. He said he has “20 to 30 percent left to get to” in his full return even though he was not on the team’s injury report this week.

“I’ve got a lot more ahead of me that I see in myself,” he said. “Even in those two big games I had I left many plays out there.”

He pointed out the drop on a screen and the pass he didn’t catch in the back of the end zone against Washington.

Those misses certainly didn’t stop the ball from coming his way.

Nagy had some fun with Nabers’ pleas for more chances. He said that Nabers was “full of” it for coyly asking after the game how many targets he had. “He knew,” Nagy said. “He’s funny.”

Nagy also said that while Nabers got to 20 targets on Sunday, the next night Puka Nacua of the Rams got 27. The bar went up.

“Yeah, it's raised,” Nagy said. “We've got to go more now.”

Let’s do it! More Nabers? Yes please!

That’s something he hasn’t been able to do so far in his career, keep building and building upward until his game reaches the heavens.

Everything seems set up for that now.

Nabers and Winston are in sync. They appear to have not just a chemistry but a true bond.

“When your quarterback knows what you're going through, knows what you're fighting for, he wants to see you succeed and he wants to be a part of that,” Nabers said. “I think Jameis wants to be a part of the story. He's been here through my adversities, and he's helped me along the way. I feel like he wants to help me accomplish everything that I want to accomplish.”

The Giants are evolving from a run-focused approach on offense toward a more wide-open passing scheme, the kind that successfully led the comeback against the Commanders.

And Nabers has Likely (who also had 11 catches on Sunday with two touchdowns) to draw defensive attention away from him.

“I told Leek since the day I got here, ‘My job is to make sure no team is able to double-cover you,’ ” Likely said. “If I'm doing that, that means [he is] going for 100-plus every game because there's not a corner in the league who can stay with him one-on-one all day.”

All of it should add up to something we have yet to experience:

The full force of 1.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.