Brian Daboll breaks down plan to instill confidence in Malik Nabers
New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers has no shortage of confidence, tabbed as an alpha with a dog personality during the draft evaluation process. Entering his first season in the NFL after New York selected him with the No. 6 overall pick in the most recent NFL Draft.
His confidence took him far at the college level, but the NFL will present Nabers with a new, more difficult challenge. And ahead of rookie minicamp, New York head coach Brian Daboll spoke on how he’ll look to instill his new wideout with just as much confidence for the Giants as he had during his playing days at LSU.
“I’d say the biggest thing is just to try to teach him how we do things,” Daboll said. “Teach him the system to let him feel confident when he goes out there.”
“Again, we’ve put in just a few plays, we’ve been going through phase two and [will] probably put in over two-three hundred plays from the start of phase one all the way to phase three,” Daboll explained. “So what you don’t want is you don’t want players — to give them so much where they’re not able to use their full athletic ability.”
Nabers established himself as one of college football’s top wide receivers last season and one of the best in LSU’s program history. Ending his career as the Tigers’ all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards with 189 catches for 3,003 yards along with 21 touchdowns in just three seasons. Highlighted by his speed and quickness that gave defenses headaches and allowed him to make explosive plays.
He’ll now look to translate that skill set and production to the NFL, which Daboll believes will be made through an understanding of New York’s offensive operation and playbook.
“I don’t mind players that are humble, confident, as long as they’re putting in the work to learn and that’s our job, to help them learn and then ultimately their job to go ahead and learn. So the faster he can learn it the more he can use his athletic ability to help us,” Daboll concluded.
Nabers seems to be a personality fit for the Big Apple ahead of his rookie season in New York, as Giants fans are hoping that he’ll be able to bring what another former first-round wide receiver from LSU brought them in 2014 by the name of Odell Beckham Jr.