Still no target for a return, Malik Nabers on the field at Giants training camp sparks optimism

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Malik Nabers insists he does not know what the “PUP” list means — the place where players land if they are physically unable to perform at the start of training camp.

At least this year, he doesn't need to. He's on the field at camp with the New York Giants, and all eyes are on the No. 1 receiver who is starting to regain his previous dynamic form.

Now 10 months removed from tearing the ACL in his right knee and still on a lengthy road back from the injury, Nabers is not yet a full participant in practice. But the Giants' No. 1 receiver is running routes at full speed during individual drills and sparking optimism that he'll be healthy enough to play in a game sooner than later.

“It felt good," Nabers said Thursday after the second practice of camp in the mountains of West Virginia. “I mean, I might not show it. I like to be a person that you never know my facial expressions. I’m always just smooth and calm. But it felt good to be out there with the guys, get a couple throws, just move around.”

Nabers, who turned 23 on Tuesday, sounded more hopeful about his future than he did in early January, when he walked with the assistance of a cane the previous weekend as a precaution and would not commit to being ready for the season opener. Saying at the time, “If my body doesn’t feel right, then I’m not going to go out there," he began a period of lingering pessimism that began to fade a bit this week when he did not land on the PUP list and was a visible part of the team.

“Every time he’s on the field, everybody knows where he’s at,” quarterback Jaxson Dart said Wednesday. “There’s an aura that he has on the field that is exhilarating. It makes me happy. It makes everybody happy just to see him out there.”

The smiles are everywhere over the situation. But with more than seven weeks to go before New York hosts Dallas on Sept. 13 to begin the season, he and team officials are still reluctant to say if Nabers will be ready to go by then.

“No target dates," Nabers said. "Just continuing to listen to the training staff, and they continue to ask me questions. And when I’m ready, I’m ready.”

Progressing to team practice sessions would seemingly be the next step of a process that included significant rehab and even a second cleanup surgery earlier this year. On the prospect of playing in a preseason game to test the knee, Nabers deferred to new coach John Harbaugh, who praised the wideout's efforts to even get to this point.

“I really am impressed with how hard he’s worked,” Harbaugh said. “I just think he’s worked really hard. He deserves to be out there doing what he (is doing). It’s really cool to see.”

Nabers catching passes from Dart in any setting is a positive, given their limited time together last season. Nabers was injured and sidelined for the rest of the season in the second quarter of Dart's first NFL start .

All the two have really been able to do since is talk and watch video together as a way of advancing their rapport before they can play in a real game together again.

“We’re just going to continue to get him in slowly,” Dart said. “He’s doing a great job with how he’s attacking his recovery. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in him and his approach to the game.”

Nabers acknowledged it has not been easy mentally to be away from football, and he has leaned on Dart, as well as new teammate Odell Beckham Jr. and others, to get through those struggles.

“Overcoming an injury is not easy,” starting left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “If anything, (it is good) just for his mental (state) to be back out here with the guys and running around and catching the ball."

Nabers did take joy in surprising other players on Wednesday with just how smoothly he was running and cutting and catching the ball. But after going through a few weeks of that himself, he did not surprise himself.

“I felt like the training staff did a very good job on getting me ready before I even stepped foot out there,” Nabers said. "Those cuts I’ve been doing with the training staff, those routes I’ve been doing with the training staff, so it wasn’t anything (but) normal to me that I was able to go out there and do it full speed.”

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