Malik Nabers has been able to do it all for the Giants as a rookie, but that doesn’t mean he can stop time.
Nabers was not on the practice field Thursday, which means he likely is in stage two (aerobic exercise) of the five-stage NFL-mandated protocol for returning from a concussion.
The odds of him playing Sunday against the Seahawks seem to be decreasing even as he is making “progress,” in head coach Brian Daboll’s words, just because of the timeline.
With only one practice and one walk-through remaining before Saturday’s flight to Seattle for Sunday’s game, Nabers still must complete football-specific exercise such as change-of-direction and cone drills, participate in all non-contact training drills, participate in a full practice and gain clearance from an independent neurological consultant.
There is no rule against accomplishing multiple late steps in one day, but judging recovery from one step to another is an important part of advancing.
“We’ll give him all the way up until we can,” Daboll said. “He’s [sidelined] right now. You have certain plays [installed] for players. If he’s ready to play, we’ll have those plays. If he’s not, we’ll have other things for our guys.”
RB Devin Singletary also did not participate in Thursday’s practice.
Rookie Tyrone Tracy is ahead of second-year pro Eric Gray on the depth chart behind Singletary.
OLB Brian Burns (groin) and WR Wan’Dale Robinson (heel) were listed as limited on the injury report for the second straight day.
CBs Adoree’ Jackson (calf) and Dru Phillips (calf) were upgraded to limited and are tracking toward playing.
Both Tracy and Gray also are returners who have had trouble fielding kickoffs.
Tracy was pulled after his fumble, but Gray was not, which seems like a double standard.
“Not necessarily a lack of confidence in Tracy,” special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said. “He is a young and eager player that has tremendous upside in this league and has already done a lot of good things. He understands the importance of holding onto the ball.”
Gray is a repeat fumbler who lost the punt return job last season because of ball-security issues.
“He has tracked the ball well,” Ghobrial said. “He has the ability to understand kicker intentions. He does a good job of catching it forward and even fielding those liners that are a little bit harder for some returners. He does run hard, and you can tell the players want a block for him. He has one of those personalities that is … very business-like approach to every opportunity he gets.”
After leading the Giants in tackles by a wide margin last year, Bobby Okereke has a challenger in fellow linebacker Micah McFadden, who has a team-high 27 despite missing one of the four games.
“As a third-year player in this league, he’s playing at a really high level,” Okereke said. “Definition of a fast, physical linebacker.”