Orthopedic surgeon sounds alarms about Giants’ Malik Nabers

Understandably, New York Giants starting quarterback Jaxson Dart reportedly needing season-ending knee surgery to repair the injury he suffered during the club’s 28-6 loss at the Los Angeles Rams (1-1) this past Monday night has overshadowed other news related to the Giants. 

One such news item involves the fact that Giants star wide receiver Malik Nabers said after the defeat that his right shoulder “popped out” and that he “just popped it back in” during the game. For a piece published on Wednesday, Danny Abriano of SNY spoke with Deepak Chona, MD, an orthopedic sports surgeon and founder of SportsMedAnalytics, about Nabers’ status for the remainder of the season.

“High risk” that Malik Nabers will endure shoulder issues throughout this season?

“In the NFL, it is common to play through shoulder dislocations, as he did in Week 2. However, it typically comes with relatively high in-season recurrence risk and major limitations on production,” Chona said about Nabers’ latest setback. “Having the arm overhead, away from the body, or rotated out can place the joint at a position of most instability. For a wide receiver, his catch radius would therefore be expected to shrink significantly. Breaking free from press coverage at the line of scrimmage can also be a concern, given the potential difficulty of trusting the shoulder to handle that level of force.” 

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler noted that the Giants will need Nabers to help backup quarterback Jameis Winston look like a legitimate QB1 with Dart sidelined. Against the Rams, Winston seemed unprepared to serve as a fill-in option when he completed 11-of-27 passes for 111 yards with an interception and zero touchdowns.

“Typically,” Chona continued, “this is handled with offseason shoulder stabilization surgery, an arthroscopic (think small incisions, minimally invasive) procedure with high rates of return to pre-injury playing level in NFL players. During the season, the shoulder will likely remain somewhat unstable and prone to re-aggravations.”

Will Malik Nabers’ production suffer after shoulder injury?

Nabers should be the Giants’ WR1 when 1-1 New York hosts the 0-2 Tennessee Titans this coming Sunday. That said, Chona mentioned how similar injuries impacted Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy and Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving last season. 

“To protect Xavier Worthy after his 2025 shoulder dislocation, (Chiefs head coach) Andy Reid admitted that they had to shrink his route tree to accommodate the injury,” Chona added. “Bucky Irving, who also played through a labrum tear in 2025, saw his receiving production drop roughly 70 percent compared to pre-injury during the same season. Overall, the data suggests relative optimism about Nabers’ ability to keep playing, but less optimism about his ability to maintain his typical level of performance and avoid re-injury.”

Dan Duggan of The Athletic is among Giants reporters who “think it would be crazy” for the team to trade anything of note to land a quarterback this fall. Thus, Winston likely will need Nabers to be a true top-tier target for the New York offense to not completely fall off a cliff following the Dart injury.