Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers traded his helmet for a draft analyst cap and shared a less than flattering assessment of the team’s investment in Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese with the No. 5 pick in the 2026 draft.
Among other thoughts shared by Nabers, he said he would have preferred Ohio State teammate Caleb Downs, a safety he “would rather play with than against.” Nabers was at LSU when Downs played for Alabama as a freshman in 2023. Downs was the No. 11 pick to the NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys.
“I love (Reese) the player but just like (podcast co-host Micah Parsons) said, where does he play? You want to be on the outside and rush but we just drafted someone last year to that same position,” Nabers said.
Head coach John Harbaugh said he reached out to Nabers to explain how Reese could be used in combination with the fully loaded pass-rush group already on hand in New York, including 2025 first-round pick Abdul Carter and edge Brian Burns.
“One thing that you’ll kind of probably see as we go here, we don’t get too worried about stuff,” Harbaugh said. “As long as the person’s heart is in the right place, as long as the person really cares … and you really want what’s best for everybody and he’s got a good heart and it’s coming from a good place, say what you think. Put it out there.
“We talk all the time about confronting everything that has to do with our football team. And so Malik wants to know how we’re going to use our first-round pick. I want to show him. I want to explain it to him. The fact that he says it publicly, who cares? I know fans are probably thinking the same thing.”
New York passed on Downs again with the 10th pick, selecting Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa.
Harbaugh said Nabers was at team headquarters on Friday, before the second day of the draft began, and they discussed how Reese would be used. According to the first-year Giants’ coach, Nabers came out of the conversation “fired up” about Reese.
“We had a great conversation with that,” Harbaugh said. “Like came in the next morning, sat up there and we were talking about it. He made himself clear. It’s like you even said, if you go back and you watch it, I appreciate kind of where he’s coming from. I mean, you’re in a podcast, you’re talking ball and he’s just like, well, how do they got to use the guy? How’s he going to play? … It’s like he said, ‘I was curious about how you’re going to use him.'”
Nabers said the public reaction was more of an overreaction.
“First off, we have to stop overreacting,” Nabers said in a social media post. “I would never intentionally take away from the biggest moment/night of Arvell’s life. Very excited to see him play on the team and happy that we have another dawg on the squad!!”
