Malik Nabers – receiver – 20 years old – Junior – LSU
Height: 1m83
Weight: 91 kilograms
2023 stats: 89 receptions, 1,569 yards, 14 touchdowns
Estimated draft position: Top 10
NFL Comparison: Justin Jefferson
LSU is a receiver factory and the university continues to prove it year after year. Malik Nabers is the figurehead of the 2024 draft and risks being a dominant receiver in his first season in the NFL.
The strong points of Malik Nabers
– Traces
– Hands
– Explosiveness
– Yards after receipt
Malik Nabers has all the qualities of a modern receiver, but his main quality is the cleanliness of his routes. Whether short, intermediate or long routes, they are all clean and well run. It can thus be placed anywhere on the line of scrimmage at the start of the ball. This ability is magnified by very sure hands. With only 5.3% rate of drop, Malik Nabers is very good in this area and also in contested receptions. Thanks to an already established physique, he is very powerful for his position despite his odd size.
His stocky physique, coupled with exceptional explosiveness, allows him to be a permanent threat in yards after reception. A simple outline slant can be transformed into a big play thanks to his extraordinary athletic qualities. He broke 30 tackles in 2023 with LSU, he is elusive.
Malik Nabers' weak points
– Parasitic movements
– Hand placement
– Use of your body at reception
The young receiver has no real weaknesses. Rather, he has areas for improvement to work on. When the ball starts, his hands are not necessarily well placed, they are often too low. In contact with an NFL cornerback in press, Malik Nabers has difficulty getting rid of it if his hands are poorly positioned. In addition, some movements interfere with the beginning of the lines; removing them could make them even more lethal.
Finally, despite having sure hands, he likes to catch balls a little too much on contested receptions with his body and not his hands. If he can overcome this flaw, he will be one of the safest receiving players in the NFL.
Possible destinations
New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Chicago Bears.
Malik Nabers has everything to succeed in the NFL. If the LSU receiver had shown up another year, he would have been the hands-down number one receiver. He will be chosen in the top 10 of the 2024 draft and he has the build to be a number one receiver. Depending on the team where he is drafted, he can even be the best friend of his future quarterback from his rookie season. The Giants seem a destination of choice for the receiver from Louisiana.
