As Giants sign Odell Beckham, is there reason for concern about Malik Nabers? We asked a doctor

Will Malik Nabers be ready for Week 1?

id="inarticle-1">Even after the Giants’ celebrated reunion with once-elite wide receiver Odell Beckham, that question continues to linger.

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class="excoVideoPlayer article__paragraph">And it certainly matters a lot more than what jersey number Beckham will wear.

id="inarticle-3">The Giants on Monday signed three fading veteran receivers — Beckham, Braxton Berrios (who has returner potential) and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

id="inarticle-4">Their receiver room needs healthy bodies, with Darius Slayton (core muscle surgery) out for the spring, returner Gunner Olszewski (torn Achilles tendon) done for the year and Nabers continuing to recover from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

id="inarticle-5">Obviously, Nabers is the Giants’ No. 1 receiver. They desperately need him. They ideally would have him for the Sept. 13 season opener against the Cowboys.

id="inarticle-6">The Giants are +280 on FanDuel. Our FanDuel Sportsbook review provides a complete guide on how to navigate their app. Also, check out our Giants win total prediction and other futures bets for the 2026/27 NFL season.

id="inarticle-7">But based on his current situation, it’s entirely possible Nabers misses the opener — and maybe a couple more games after that.

id="inarticle-8">That’s the outlook of Dr. Carlos Uquillas, an orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles and a team physician for the Los Angeles Angels.

id="inarticle-9">Uquillas told NJ.com on Monday that because Nabers’ ACL surgery also included a full meniscus repair, his recovery could wind up being prolonged. Plus, Nabers this offseason underwent a second surgery on his knee to remove scar tissue that was causing stiffness. That also could extend Nabers’ rehab window, Uquillas said.

id="inarticle-10">Bottom line: Don’t be surprised if Nabers is not on the field come Week 1.

id="inarticle-11">“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Uquillas said. “Sometimes, these can take up to a year to get better, especially if they have other damage, like a meniscus repair or scar tissue removal. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t ready for Week 1.”

id="inarticle-12">Still, Uquillas said, Nabers has time to “catch up” in his rehab after undergoing the scar tissue removal surgery.

id="inarticle-13">Though Uquillas has not examined Nabers, he is an expert on torn ACLs.

id="inarticle-14">Nabers tore his ACL last season in rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart’s first start, on Sept. 28 against the Chargers. He had surgery exactly a month later, because his surgeon — Dr. Daniel Cooper, the Cowboys’ head team doctor — wanted to let swelling subside before operating. That is standard procedure, Uquillas said.

id="inarticle-15">But if Nabers had been able to undergo surgery immediately, his rehab window would have started earlier, Uquillas said. Unfortunately for Nabers, that wasn’t the case.

id="inarticle-16">“Some [torn ACLs] require waiting for surgery, and it’s a longer recovery,” Uquillas said.

class="middleParagraph" id="inarticle-17">Then there’s the matter of a damaged meniscus. Even though Nabers tore just his ACL (and not also his MCL, LCL or PCL), a full meniscus repair is a “pesky” factor in a receiver’s recovery from knee surgery, Uquillas said, especially since that position requires hard and quick cutting — while playing without a brace.

id="inarticle-18">“It depends on the extent of the meniscus repair,” Uquillas said. “There are some repairs that are small, and they don’t really change the rehab very much. More significant repairs, where you have to take weight off the leg for four to six weeks after the surgery, they do slow it down, at least in the first two to three months.

id="inarticle-19">“One of the restrictions you can have with meniscus repairs is restricting the range of motion. So you’re not trying to bend it all the way the first six weeks. And that can contribute to stiffness sometimes. So there’s a slightly higher risk of stiffness when you have a meniscus repair on top of an ACL.”

id="inarticle-20">Uquillas said that Nabers needing to wait a month before having surgery was “probably related to the [damaged] meniscus, because that usually adds to the injury, in terms of swelling and soreness. So it just shows that it’s a worse injury than just an ACL.”

id="inarticle-21">His second surgery to remove scar tissue that was causing stiffness also can extend a player’s rehab window. But it’s not a lock that’ll happen.

id="inarticle-22">“It depends on how significant the restrictions are in motion before removing the scar tissue,” Uquillas said. “So if they’ve been moving slowly because of the scar tissue, and then you decide to do the removal, it does tend to prolong the overall recovery timeline. But it depends on how extensive that scar tissue removal was, too.”

id="inarticle-23">Will removing scar tissue immediately fix the stiffness problem?

id="inarticle-24">“Not immediately, because the [surrounding] soft tissues are still tight,” Uquillas said. “You still have to work through some of that tightness to improve the motion. So it does improve it, but it’s not a night-and-day change right away. You still need to work on it.”

id="inarticle-25">Nabers jogged Saturday at teammate Brian Burns’ charity softball game. That is normal and expected, Uquillas said.

id="inarticle-26">“At this stage in recovery, they should be jogging,” he said. “They should be starting to add some cutting and pivoting under supervision.”

id="inarticle-27">It’s unclear if Nabers is doing that while rehabbing behind closed doors with the Giants’ training staff.

id="inarticle-28">“He probably should be doing more than jogging — and he may be,” Uquillas said. “But it doesn’t surprise me that he’s jogging.”

id="inarticle-29">Uquillas typically tells his torn ACL patients to expect a recovery window of nine months to a year, “depending on the extent of their injury.” For Nabers, a year post-injury would be late September, which would mean he could miss the season’s first three games. The Giants’ fourth game is Oct. 4 at home against Arizona.

id="inarticle-30">“It can be over a year,” Uquillas said. “Sometimes, I think it’s a little bit less usual for that to be the case. But it’s all dependent on function [for motion and strength].”

id="inarticle-31">Even when Nabers does return, Uquillas expects a gradual — not immediate — return to his previous dominant level of performance.

id="inarticle-32">“There’s a chance the first year, he’s easing his way in, getting his endurance back, his explosiveness back,” Uquillas said. “Even though he’s playing, he may still be not his full self the first season. That’s not unusual. Especially with [Nabers] needing a second surgery, certainly it’s a little more complicated than just the typical ACL.”

id="inarticle-33">MORE GIANTS COVERAGEEx-Eagles teammates clash over Giants’ Jaxson Dart’s Trump rally appearance • >Former ESPN host defends Giants’ Jaxson Dart, questions critics’ ‘tolerance’ • >Ex-NFL star sounds alarm on Giants’ Malik Nabers after viral softball footage • >Giants WR spending spree continues with 3rd signing of the day

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