What a difference a few months makes. During the preseason, we were all wondering if Malik Nabers would even be healthy for the start of the season after he had April clean-up surgery following the torn ACL and meniscus injury he suffered in 2025.

Now, he looks like a top-five wide receiver who is building off a superb rookie year and poised to carry a rejuvenated Giants team to a division title, with a QB carousel in tow. 

He put up video game numbers in October:

• Week 4: 6 catches, 112 yards, touchdown (Jameis Winston at QB)
• Week 5: 11 catches, 121 yards, touchdown (Jameis Winston at QB)
• Week 6: 12 catches, 165 yards (Jameis Winston and J.J. McCarthy at QB)
• Week 7: 7 catches, 111 yards (J.J. McCarthy at QB)

He's the first player with four straight 100-yard receiving games, all with non-Week 1 starting QBs (for the sake of brevity, I'll call them "backups"), since Cris Carter in 1999. It's tied for the longest streak by any player since the 1970 merger, with the likes of Carter, Rob Moore, Jerry Rice and Carl Pickens.

That means if he hits the century mark on Sunday vs. Philadelphia, he will be the only player since the merger with five straight 100-yard games with backup quarterbacks. 

Longest streaks with 100+ rec yds, all with backup QBs since 1970

He has as many 100-yard receiving games as the rest of the NFL combined with backup QBs this year (four).

That's just the tip of the iceberg, too. He's been putting up video game numbers with everyone he's played with since donning a Giants uniform. They used Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito in 2024, plus Jaxson Dart, Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston in 2025. 

All told, Nabers is the only player in NFL history with a 100-yard receiving game with five different starting QBs (Jones, Lock, Wilson, Winston, McCarthy) within his first 30 career games. The only others to hit that mark in their first three seasons were DeAndre Hopkins and George Pickens.

Most QB proof since DeAndre Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald

He's quickly developing the highly sought-after reputation as "QB proof". The gold standard? The aforementioned DeAndre Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald, of course.

Hopkins' legend starts with this fact: He is the only player in NFL history to have a 100-yard receiving game with four different starting QBs in a season. He did this in 2015 with the who's who of backup quarterbacks — Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden.

Hopkins had a 100-yard receiving game with 12 different starting QBs in his career, tied for the most in NFL history. He caught a touchdown from 15 different players, a top-five figure all-time.

The OG, though: first-ballot Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald. He once had to endure a similar quarterback room of Kevin Kolb, John Skelton, Ryan Lindley and Brian Hoyer in 2012. Oy vey. Fitzgerald caught touchdowns from 16 different players and had 100-yard games from 11 different starting QBs, both top-five ranks all-time. 

The list of starting QBs both played with is amazing. Forget that Hopkins moonlighted with Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson at the end of his career, and you'll appreciate their greatness more.

Here's the list of starting quarterbacks Nabers has played with in 26 career games: 

• Daniel Jones
• Drew Lock
• Jameis Winston
• Russell Wilson
• Tommy DeVito
• Jaxson Dart
• J.J. McCarthy

Fellow New Yorker Garrett Wilson might need his QB-proof status revoked if we are comparing him with Nabers.

Malik Nabers vs. Garrett Wilson - Tale of Tape

Top-Five WR status?

Time will tell if Nabers is headed for Hopkins and Fitzgerald-level greatness, but he's certainly on the right track. In the meantime, we can appreciate the implications of Nabers ballin' with backups. 

Division title? Nabers isn't putting up hollow numbers. The Giants are 3-1-1 since Jaxson Dart's season-ending injury, including 2-1-1 during Nabers' historic 100-yard streak. 

Developing McCarthy? He's helping the Giants get some ROI on the J.J. McCarthy trade. McCarthy is 11-of-14 for 206 yards targeting Nabers in five quarters in a Giants uniform; that's a 2,800-yard pace for an entire season!

Top five WR? This offseason, our team of experts ranked the top 10 players at each position and had this as our top five WRs: Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

As of today, I would edit that consensus list and order it like this:

1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba
2. Ja'Marr Chase
3. Puka Nacua
4. Amon-Ra St. Brown
5. Malik Nabers

Nabers is targeted on 30% of the routes he runs in his career. Only Puka Nacua has a higher rate since 2024. The Giants depend on Nabers so much, and he's delivering, even with backup QBs. 

CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Drake London and co. can duke it out with Nabers for the fifth spot, but I think it's fair to roll with Nabers over his fellow LSU alum Justin Jefferson. It only took Nabers one game to do what Jefferson never accomplished with J.J. McCarthy: have a 100-yard receiving game. 

CPOY? How about picking up some hardware along the way. Nabers has the second-best odds to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year (+550) behind Patrick Mahomes. It's incredible he's putting up these kinds of numbers with backup quarterbacks when it seemed like he was behind schedule in his recovery from the knee injury he suffered in 2025. 

Massive extension? It all adds up to Nabers being due for a massive extension when he is first eligible for one this offseason. Nabers has been so good that he should reset the market and surpass the deals signed by Ja'Marr Chase (four years, $161 million) and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (four years, $169 million) in the past two offseasons. 

If he wants, he can print out this article and hand it to Giants brass at the negotiating table.