Giants Mailbag: Preseason Playing Time, Hidden Yards and Nabers' Return

Welcome to the weekly New York Giants On SI mailbag! From offseason moves to game-day strategies, we'll do our best to answer your questions. (Some questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.)

Preseason Goals

From Andrew Bogdan (@AndrewBogdanCT): Harbaugh is known for trying to win preseason games. To that end, how much playing time will the starters get in preseason, and which, if any, do you see wrapped in bubble wrap?

Hi Andrew. I anticipate the Giants starters getting a good amount of work this summer.

Remember, they’re all dealing with learning new systems, and I think it would be foolish of them not to take advantage of the situation and get the starters as much work as possible.

I don’t think the starters will play the entire game each week, but if the goal is to get them ready for the start of the season, then I do think Harbaugh is going to put them out there a lot more than Brian Daboll did.

And although preseason games don’t count in the standings, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to expect the team to win those games because if they do, that means they’re doing way more right than they’re doing wrong.

As for which players are held out, I think it’s probably safe to say that anyone dealing with an injury will probably be limited game-wise.

Hidden Yards

Jun 3, 2026; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh talks with media after organized team activities at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

From Kris Kauffeld (@dublk52): Listening to Harbaugh, he mentioned the hidden yards, something Bill Parcells used to talk about. Do you have stats on how the Giants did in this area last year?

Excellent question, Kris. I don’t have anything in my various databases that goes into that kind of detail and would have to go back and calculate it.

If I remember, I will try to track it in the coming year, especially if I sense a big swing in either direction.

I found this article written by Bill Parcells, which I think Harbaugh might be referring to.

Parcells goes into how he calculated hidden yards, and I thought it was a fascinating read.

I’ll keep an eye out for that metric, and again, if I remember to track it this year for each game, I will, as it is something different and worth talking about.

Malik and the Receivers

From Edward (@EdwardOnWheat): How many games does Nabers play this year?

Edward, I think we all are hoping Nabers plays in all 17 games this coming season, even if in the beginning he is on a pitch count.

I have no way of giving you an educated guess as I’d like to see how he looks moving around out there, but that said and based on the information I last had, I could see Nabers being eased into the lineup to where, if all goes well, he plays in at least 15 games this season.

From Caroline D. (via Email): How do veteran additions like Odell Beckham Jr. and JuJu Smith-Schuster fit into the Giants receivers rotation and how many receivers do you think they’ll keep?

Caroline, I can’t see both Beckham and Smith-Schuster making the roster. Truth be told, I think it’s going to boil down to how far along Nabers is by the end of the summer and how OBJ and Smith-Schuster look.

I have projected six receivers for the Giants, as I do think that they’ll want to keep an extra one because I don’t see Nabers starting the season with zero restrictions.

I also think they will need to keep two or three just for special teams. I have included my latest predictions for all the position groups in this article.

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