Malik Nabers’ Shocking ACL Injury: Which Giants WRs Will Rise From the Rubble?

It’s heartbreaking to watch Malik Nabers, the shining star wideout for the New York Giants, go down with what’s feared to be a torn ACL during Week 4’s clash against the Chargers. I mean, watching him leap for that deep ball only to land awkwardly and clutch his knee—well, it hit like a gut punch. For a team striving to gel around youthful talent, losing Nabers now is a devastating setback—not just for the Giants on the field, but for fantasy managers who banked big on him this season. Nabers was firing as the WR9 in fantasy ranks heading into this week, largely thanks to that explosive Week 2 showing against Dallas. Now, with his likely season-ending injury, fantasy lineups—and team strategies—are poised for a significant shakeup. It’s a tough pill to swallow but one that demands quick thinking and adaptation as the Giants scramble to fill the void. LEARN MORE

New York Giants star WR Malik Nabers is feared to have suffered a torn ACL in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers, per multiple reports. Nabers was injured on a deep ball down the sideline in the first half. Nabers went up and landed awkardly on his right leg, grabbing his knee after the play.

With Nabers likely done for the season, it’s a brutal blow for the Giants as they try to build around a young nucleus. Fantasy mangers are now also forced to examine what this means going forward.

Nabers entered Week 4 as the WR9 overall in fantasy football. Pretty much all of Nabers’ production this season came from that Week 2 thriller against the Cowboys, when he produced a 9-167-2 line for 33.2 fantasy points. Outside of that contest, Nabers had been quiet in Weeks 1 and 3. He entered the 2025 season after being drafted 12th overall on average, at the tail-end of first rounds in 12-team Yahoo leagues. It’s safe to say this injury could sink a ton of fantasy rosters who invested such a high pick in Nabers.

First, there’s no replacing a player like Nabers. The Giants’ offense already had plenty of question marks going into this game, in which rookie QB Jaxson Dart made his first NFL start. Early on, the offense was buzzing with Dart scoring a rushing TD. Nabers had a pair of catches for 20 yards before exiting — quickly changing the mood of the game. Now, the team will be without its top wideout the rest of the season.

That will thrust Wan’Dale Robinson into the WR1 role for the Giants, though he isn’t that type of receiver. Robinson entered this season as more of a PPR specialist, though he did explode for 24.2 fantasy points in Week 2 vs. the Cowboys. That feels more like an outlier than anything at this point. Robinson may have strong weeks given he should see a decent target share. But the Giants may opt to run the ball more with rookie Cam Skattebo and Dart, who got plenty of designed runs vs. the Chargers. Robinson will have some FLEX value in weeks where the Giants need to throw the ball more. But he won’t be a reliable fantasy option week-to-week.

The other receiver worth noting is Darius Slayton, who was starting alongside Nabers through the first two weeks, seeing over 97% of the snaps in each contest. His snaps regressed last week but now Slayton should go back to playing most of the game. There’s value simply based on the amount of playing time he’ll see. But Slayton isn’t anything more than a risky FLEX or bye-week replacement with Nabers out.

The best course of action if you have Nabers might be to seek help via a trade. If you have some depth at WR, it’s worth seeing how things go next week before making a rash decision. But if you need to let go of a key asset at another position to solidify your receiver room or gain some depth, it may be the only way to salvage your fantasy season. A deal may be even more important in dynasty formats if you’re in a position to secure a top draft pick for 2026. Nabers is still young and should bounce back, but only time will tell if he can be the same elite, explosive wide receiver next season and beyond.