Malik Nabers was supposed to be the reason the New York Giants fans felt good about 2026. The record-breaking rookie caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards before tearing his ACL in Week 4. Now, with no clear return timeline and OTAs underway, the situation just got more complicated for new head coach John Harbaugh.

“DL Roy Robertson-Harris limped off very gingerly from 11-on-11. Trainers are checking his right leg. WR Jalin Hyatt was riding the bike on the side. Appeared to tweak something running routes early in practice,” The Athletic’s Dan Duggan posted on X.

According to ESPN, Robertson-Harris tore his Achilles tendon during the indoor session and is expected to miss the entire 2026 season. The timing couldn’t be worse. The Giants traded three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II to the Cincinnati Bengals last month for the No. 10 overall pick, leaving Robertson-Harris as the projected starter in the middle of New York’s defensive line. Now that spot is vacant before training camp even begins.

To help fill the void left by the Lawrence trade, New York signed veteran defensive tackle DJ Reader to a two-year, $12.5 million deal. Shelby Harris, Sam Roberts, Leki Fotu, Zacch Pickens, second-year player Darius Alexander, and sixth-round draft pick Bobby Jamison-Travis we also added.

On the offensive side, wide receiver Jalin Hyatt also left practice early after appearing to tweak something in his leg. Trainers evaluated him before he spent the remainder of the session riding the stationary bike on the sideline.

Unlike Robertson-Harris’s situation, there is still plenty of time left in the offseason for Hyatt to recover. A minor tweak in May is not necessarily something that will derail his offseason.

Jalin Hyatt had very little impact in 2025, finishing with five catches for 35 yards. It is safe to say that, it was underwhelming for a former third-round pick entering a crucial offseason for his roster spot. Spending OTA time on a stationary bike makes his chances skim.

Needless to say, seeing two players suffer setbacks during OTAs, where the intensity is nowhere near full speed, could be concerning for the Giants’ fans. Meanwhile, the head coach opened up about Malik Naber’s recovery post surgery and his potential return to action.

Will Malik Nabers make it to the Week 1 game?

Nabers appeared in four games last season before tearing the ACL in his right knee against the Los Angeles Chargers on September 28. He later underwent surgery that also included a full meniscus repair. More recently, he required a second procedure to remove scar tissue that had been causing stiffness in the knee.

The Giants still do not have a clear timeline for when star wide receiver Malik Nabers will return, and the latest update from Harbaugh only added to the uncertainty.

“He’s in the middle of it. It’s such a hard thing. It’s an ACL,” Harbaugh said on Thursday. “Not a simple knee [injury], you know? So, he’s in the slog of it, the grind of it, I would say. So, he’s fighting through it, and he’s here every day working hard at it.”

Despite the uncertainty, there is still hope that Nabers will be ready to play in the Week 1 game. The New York Giants’ first game is scheduled for September 13 against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium.

“Just impossible to predict,” Harbaugh said, “I mean, the goal is to start the season and get out there sometime in training camp. That’d be the goal, and we’ll see what happens.”

Nabers is expected to be the Giants’ top receiving option and a key target for quarterback Jaxson Dart. In his absence, New York has rotated several receivers with the first team during OTAs, including Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin III, and rookie Malachi Fields.

However, it will not be an easy task to find a replacement for Nabers. He delivered a record-breaking rookie season in 2024, recording 109 receptions for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns after being drafted sixth overall.

At first, the Giants were hopeful about the chances of Nabers making it to training camp. But now, they seem only to want him on their roster by Week 1.