EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — No matter how talented and good Giants rookie Malik Neighbors is, there's going to be a learning curve in Year 1.
He got another taste of what it's like to face a formidable cornerback duo in four days: Sauce Gardner and DJ Reid of the New York Jets and Derrick Stingley of the Houston Texans. These are high-end talent, and he'll be facing those types of cornerbacks regularly in his key role with the Giants.
Naturally, there are lessons to be learned, and Neighbors is getting a crash course in Advanced Placement Wide Receiving.
Neighbors didn't have the best day during Wednesday's joint practice with the Jets. His biggest faux pas was when a deep pass from quarterback Daniel Jones slipped through his fingers in the rain during the Giants' final drive. And earlier in the practice, a pass made a clank off his foot.
“There were too many dropped balls,” Neighbors said of the game, “a lot of balls I could have caught on the field. That's my fault.”
“I think if we can end those two minutes with a touchdown, it definitely changes the mood,” Jones said. “Everybody's got to make plays. These things happen.”
“It bothered me a lot,” Neighbors said of dropping the deep ball during a two-minute drill at the end of practice.
Neighbors criticized his own performance and acknowledged that the Jets “won.” He had to watch as Gardner silenced the Giants' sideline and drove them off the field. Jones and the Giants offense hit a number of short/medium-range passes but couldn't get anything downfield against the Jets.
The Giants clearly aren't concerned about Neighbors' declining pitching, calling it simply part of the development process.
They plan to continue to target him on an ongoing basis and are confident he will play well enough to do so.
“I understand that for a young player, he's hard on himself,” coach Brian Daboll said, “but it's not going to stop me or the quarterback from throwing passes to him.”
That's the challenge Neighbors will face in his rookie year. He's already the focal point of the Giants' offense — all three passes were thrown to him in a 7-on-7 drill with the Jets — and they need him to produce immediate results to compete. That doesn't give him the luxury of playing behind other top players and slowly evolving into that No. 1 receiver role.
Neighbors will have to learn on the fly, which means the natural ups and downs of a rookie will be on full display. His performance last week against the Texans in a preseason game was a perfect example. He took a well-placed pass from Jones with his right hand while Stingley was covering him, allowing the pass in the first quarter. Stingley was too busy pulling the ball down, and Neighbors couldn't get his left hand up to catch it.
It's these little tweaks (like learning how to win hand battles) that will make you a better Neighbors player in the long run.
The anticipated one-on-one matchup between Neighbors and Gardner on Wednesday never materialized. With neither team having a game plan, Gardner spent most of the practice at left cornerback. Neighbors moved around the formation, sometimes in the slot but more often across from Reed, who himself was a formidable opponent. The rookie receiver made one catch over the middle in a 7-on-7 drill against a tenacious Gardner.
As long as Neighbours learns from the tough competition, all of these experiences should be beneficial for him.
“I'm not going to get into all the important details, like what I thought,” Neighbors said about facing Gardner. “I'm just going to keep it to myself and keep working on myself.”
It's only a matter of time before they meet again. Neighbors looks like a receiver who can make an immediate impact with the Giants, much like Garrett Wilson did with the Jets. Gardner, who the Giants liked in the 2022 draft but the Jets picked him up one spot, established himself as an all-pro cornerback over his first two years.
Mr. Neighbors appears to have earned his respect.
“He's a good player,” Gardner said. “Very quick coming into and coming out of the break. … He reminds me a little bit of the receivers at Louisiana State. He reminds me a little bit of Ja'Marr Chase. He reminds me a little bit of Justin Jefferson. It's subtle. At the end of the day, he's Malik, so I'm not going to compare him to anybody. I don't want to limit anybody's potential. He reminds me a little bit of both those guys.”
“He's going to be a pretty good player.”
But what's become clear from the AP WR class over the past few days is that he's not quite there yet.