In a lost season, the Giants must make sure they do not lose the players they will count on in 2025 to prevent all this from happening again.
The most talented and important of those players is Malik Nabers, who is doing plenty of good things.
The expectation for him is greatness, though, and he has five more games to make some of that much-anticipated magic happen within an offense that is blander than wheat germ and as exciting as a documentary about the making of documentaries.
Nabers has been brought down by the product around him — the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense — and he takes excellent but not awe-inspiring numbers into Sunday’s game against the Saints at MetLife Stadium, as the Giants (2-10) look to end a seven-game losing streak and win for the first time at home, where they are 0-6.
There is a new issue for Nabers to deal with — a hip flexor injury — and he is listed as questionable to be able to play.
The Giants need him.
He leads his team in receptions (75), receiving yards (740) and touchdown catches (3), for all the good it has done in a rookie season filled with football despair.
“I mean, there’s always more for me,’’ Nabers said. “I think I could be doing some amazing things right now. Is it going the way I thought it was going? No, not really. But I’m still continuing to work on trying to get that out. God always has a better plan for you. You’ve just got to follow the steps.’’
The steps have been halting for a team and a youngster, both of whom anticipated so much more.
In his first four NFL games Nabers had 35 receptions and three touchdowns, averaging 11 yards per catch — and 4.5 yards after catch.
In the six games since he sat out two games with a concussion, Nabers has 40 receptions and no touchdowns, averaging just 8.9 yards per catch and a miniscule 1.9 yards after catch.
Where is the wow and whoa and wonder?
This is one of the most glaring dysfunctions of the passing game — the inability to get Nabers the ball with room to run.
He mostly gets open, catches the ball with his back to the defense and gets tackled.
The slant routes have dried up and the go-routes have not been a part of the attack.
“It’s just the attention,’’ Nabers said. “I mean, they are keying in on what kind of routes I run. The 12th game of the season. Everybody watches film. They rally to the football, get me on the ground. That’s just how football is.’’
It is not how it was in college.
Nabers averaged 17.6 yards per catch in 2023 and nearly 16 yards a catch in his 38 games at LSU.
One of the main reasons the Giants were attracted to him was his explosive, big-play ability.
It is hard to believe he will not get to that level in the NFL as soon as next season, as long as there is improved play from a new quarterback.
Nabers is well on pace to surpass the 91 catches Odell Beckham Jr. amassed as a rookie in 2014.
Beckham, though, averaged 14.3 yards per catch and had 12 touchdowns.
Having Eli Manning as his quarterback — rather than Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito and Drew Lock — made a significant difference.
Nabers is seeking to make adjustments to free himself up and give him some room to maneuver.
“I’m trying to get my head around quicker after I catch the ball,’’ he said. “Just trying to feel the defenders even faster than I have before. That’s really it.’’
A few head-scratching comments born out of frustration immediately after losses and not exactly making clear what he means in media scrums make headlines but should not weigh heavily, or at all, on Nabers’ first-year experience.
If everyone around him took losing as hard as he does, the Giants would be better off.
Plus, he is 21 years old.
The lack of team success and the dearth of big plays should not blot out what has been an impressive NFL debut.
Nabers already is the first player in NFL history with five or more receptions and 50-plus receiving yards in nine of his first 10 career games.
Nabers is on pace for 112 receptions, which would blow past the Giants’ rookie record of 91 shared by Beckham and Saquon Barkley.
Much has been accomplished amid all the losing.
But not nearly enough.