Malik Nabers’ Return Timeline Might Be Faster Than Anyone Expected After This Comparison

New York Giants fans have been staring at a Malik Nabers-sized hole in their depth chart ever since the star wide receiver tore his ACL midway through last season. But if you look at how the Giants handled a similar situation before, there’s a real chance Nabers is back on the field sooner than the standard recovery timeline would suggest.

Patricia Traina, a Giants insider for Sports Illustrated, recently drew a direct line between Nabers’ recovery path and the way the team handled left tackle Andrew Thomas’ Lisfranc injury last year. Thomas went down in Week 5 of the 2024 season, had surgery, and spent months in rehab. By Week 3 of the 2025 season, he was back on the field — but on a pitch count, starting the game and playing roughly the first half before getting pulled.

Now, obviously, a torn ACL and a Lisfranc injury are not the same thing. So this isn’t a guarantee that Nabers will follow the exact same blueprint. But what it does show is that the Giants’ training staff has a track record of getting players back into game shape within a compressed window.

That matters for a Giants team that just hired John Harbaugh as head coach and has legitimate playoff aspirations in 2026. Nabers was a legit star before the injury, going off in the first few weeks of last season. He got hurt in the same game where rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart made his first career start against the Chargers, which was a weird night for a lot of reasons.

What the Giants are working with

Nabers’ rookie season was cut short just as he was becoming the kind of receiver who can change an entire offense. The Giants have been quiet about his rehab progress, which is standard. But Traina’s comparison to Thomas suggests the team might be aiming for a return early in the regular season rather than waiting until the middle of the year or beyond.

Thomas’ return timeline was about 10 months from injury to game action. If Nabers follows a similar path, that puts him back on the field around September or October. The Giants’ season starts September 13, so it’s not crazy to think he could be in the lineup for Week 1 — or at least close to it.

The team obviously won’t rush him. But the way they handled Thomas tells you they’re willing to ease a star player back into action with a pitch count if that’s what it takes to get him on the field earlier. That approach worked with Thomas, who held up fine once he was out there.

The biggest question now is how Nabers responds when he starts running routes against live defenders. ACL recoveries are different for everyone. But the Giants have reason to be optimistic based on recent history alone.