‘Hard Knocks’ episode 2, takeaways: Getting comfortable with Malik Nabers (2024)

Episode 2 of ‘Hard Knocks: Offseason’ featuring the New York Giants aired on Tuesday evening. This episode focused largely on the draft, and ended with a decision on how to proceed with Saquon Barkley.

Let’s get to some of the takeaways.

Getting to know Malik Nabers

NFL talent evaluators will tell you that most misses in the NFL Draft are not about incorrectly evaluating a player’s talent. Those misses are most often about not getting the evaluation of the player as a person correct.

National scout Mike DeRice:

“The job is all about the evaluations and learning the people. At the end of the day it’s just trying to figure out who best fits our organization from a personality standpoint, character standpoint and play standpoint.”

College area scout Hannah Burnett:

“The first bucket is figuring out who the player is as a person. When push comes to shove that’s something you can’t miss on.”

It was clear from early in Tuesday’s episode that the Giants loved Malik Nabers’ talent. It was also clear that they had concerns about how well the competitive, sometimes demonstrative Nabers would fit into their locker room.

Before the NFL Scouting Combine, college area scout Scott Hamel summed up Nabers this way:

“Highly passionate. Highly competitive kid. Plays with a big-time chip on his shoulder. He’s a guy that always wanted the most targets. You’ll hear about if it he’s not getting them.

“We need to get around this kid and see if we can work with him. There is a lot to the personality.”

At the Combine, it was apparent head coach Brian Daboll was a Nabers fan:

“I had that LSU tape on,” Daboll told GM Joe Schoen. “I watched that Nabers dude. Dude’s a baller.”

When the Giants interviews Nabers at the Combine, a scenario assistant GM Brandon Brown called “pseudo speed-dating,” Daboll grilled him about losing and about how he would react to not getting the ball when he thought he should.

Nabers admitted he was “pretty hard on it” when that happened.

Daboll, known for his own emotional outbursts, offered advice that made a smiling Schoen playfully shake the head coach:

“I lose it, too, as a coach, but you’ve gotta learn how to harness that.”

The Giants seemed sold on Nabers after that Combine meeting, with Schoen telling Brown the 20-year-old Nabers was more reserved than he had expected.

“Name me a dominant player at that position, or the corner position, or pass rusher that was a choir boy,” Brown told Schoen. “He gives us something we don’t have. My biggest thing ain’t him. It’s whoever the Q [quarterback] is will they be able to handle it.”

Schoen, who has been insistent the quarterback will be Daniel Jones, said that Jones had “already looked” at Nabers and “he loves him.”

Fun with Dabs

Having mentioned his interaction with Nabers, this seems like a good time to discuss the fact that Daboll’s sense of humor was on display in this episode.

Sam Hartman’s hair:

A week ago, we learned that Schoen’s grandmother thinks the former Notre Dame quarterback is “cute,” and was hoping the Giants would draft him.

“That is some solid hair right there,” Daboll joked while watching Hartman run. “He looks like the dude on ‘Full House.’ Yeah, Uncle Jessie.”

Dabs has wheels? Maybe not

Once upon a time, Daboll was a Division III defensive back. That was a long time ago. Yet, watching Hartman and others run 40-yard dashes at the Combine, the coach made a bold claim:

“I guarantee you I could run a 7.0 40. If you put a f-ing plate full of wings on the other end I’m doing that sh*t,” he said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind I can run under a 7.”

Director of Player Personnel Tim McDonnell summed up the staff’s reaction this way:

“No way ... I saw you run across the street two nights ago.”

Watching Xavier Worthy set the Combine record with a 4.21 40, Daboll pressed his case again. He asked Schoen where he would have to start to beat Worthy in a 40-yard dash.

“35-yard line” was Schoen’s laughing response.

Yes, trading up to No. 3 was in play

Schoen and Brandon Brown were at the Combine discussing the idea when Schoen told Brown “I’ll go plant the seed.”

He then went to talk with de facto New England GM Eliot Wolf to express interest in the pick.

Schoen told Wolf “just keep me in the back of your mind” if you “have any inkling” of moving out of the No. 3 overall pick.

So, in case you were wondering if those rumors were smoke there is your answer.

Daboll and the QBs

It was fascinating to watch Daboll grill quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy and Jayden Daniels. It was apparent he was trying to see how quickly they could process information and how well they could adjust to rapid-fire changes.

Daboll on evaluating quarterbacks:

“There is a 40 time and a vertical jump and all those things but you’ve gotta get down to what’s the competitive stamina of the individual, personality that he has, the commitment to the team. Those are hard things to measure by numbers.”

A few notes from Giants area scouts on the top quarterbacks:

Jayden Daniels (Scott Hamel) — “Not going to be a vocal leader ... putting him on the spot with stuff and getting a feel for recall will be really important.” Daboll did exactly that in their Combine interview.

Drake Maye (Patrick Hanscomb) — “Personality-wise, a little looser than Daniel [Jones] but there are some similarities. No issues with the football character. That’s going to grade out high. The mental’s going to probably grade out high for you guys, but of course do your work on that.”

J.J. McCarthy (Brendan Prophett) — Had liberty to check and kill plays at the line of scrimmage.

Caleb Williams (Blaise Bell) — Late season refusal to talk to media a concern. “Coming to our market that’s a no-no. Other than that, everything checks.”

Brian Burns deal

There was a decent amount of discussion about the trade the Giants eventually made to acquire edge defender Brian Burns.

Schoen asked new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen about the possibility of adding Burns:

“I’m in good shape with Brian Burns,” was Bowen’s response.

“And then I can play corner,” joked Schoen.

It was also pretty apparent that the Giants were willing to make a run at free agent defensive tackle Christian Wilkins if their effort to acquire Burns did not work out.

Media planning

This episode pulled back the curtain a bit on how Schoen (and probably Daboll) prepare for and deal with media scrums.

The reality is the media and coaching staff/front office members are involved in a big dance. The media jabs and probes, looking for a good quote needed for whatever the reporter or talking head is working on, or a sliver of information that will be useful. Schoen, Daboll, etc. try to parry without saying anything of real consequence.

Watching Schoen prep with Giants Communications Department members for his Combine media session was fascinating. He was prepped for questions and practiced/polished his answers. I have always known this went on, but it was cool to actually see it.

Something else: Coaches and GMs lie to the media. We know it, you should know it. Witness Schoen telling reporters the franchise tag was in play for Barkley when it clearly wasn’t.

It’s all just part of the game we play.

Letting Saquon test the market

The show ended with Schoen informing Barkley the Giants would let him test the market.

“I’ve been dealing with this for a long time,” Schoen tells Barkley’s agent, Ed Berry of CAA in a march 5 phone call. “Here’s what I’m worrying [about], we offer him something, he gets a little pissed off because it’s not what he wants and then some other team comes in a million over us and he’s pissed at us, he’s disrespected, so he goes.

“I’m going to let him go to the market. You just want to keep your word. He said he wants to be a Giant for life, the chance of being in the Ring of Honor, there’s a lot of things out there that he’s gotta take into account.

“I think he can still play. It’s just, you’ve gotta get the value right. You look at the data, it is what it is.”

Berry wanted to know if Schoen actually was hoping Barkley “bounced” to another team. The GM admitted he was “torn” about whether to let Barkley go.

“I still think he can play and I think he can help us. I didn’t want to come at a number. I don’t have a great idea where the market is. I’m going to let the league tell him what it is. If you want to come back and be a Giant let’s try to find something that makes sense. We’re close. Let’s have a conversation. Again, I do think he was our best offensive player.”

Schoen then called Barkley.

“The right thing to do is let you test the market and see what your value is,” Schoen said. “I don’t want to do the franchise thing or all that stuff again. I don’t want to go through that. We’ve both been through that. If you really want to be a Giant for life and you’re interested in staying here and coming back just see what your market is and then have Ed come back to us and we’ll see if we can come to an agreement.”

Barkley: “I appreciate that.”

Schoen: “Can you give me your word on that or [are] you not going to give us a chance?”

Barkley: “I already told you where I want to be.”

Schoen then closes with a statement that made it sound like he was relatively sure Barkley would be moving on:

“I think it’s the right thing to do. I love you, man. I appreciate everything you did for the organization the two years I was here. I’m not saying we’re not going to get something done, but I think it’s right that if for some reason it doesn’t work out that you know that the organization thinks the world of you.

“Hopefully, you go out there, you see the market, you say, you know what, I want to be here and you give us a shout back.”

Defensive backs

The Giants drafted safety Tyler Nubin in Round 2 and cornerback Dru Phillips in Round 3.

Daboll and Bowen were shown discussing Nubin, with Daboll saying he was “impressive” and Bowen simply saying “yeah.” Defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson ran Combine defensive back drills and was shown interacting with Phillips.

So, those picks did not happen by accident.