The New York Giants celebrated their 100th season by winning three games, with only one of those coming at home. They hold the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft and need to add players who can make an immediate impact.
Two of their current stars, receiver Malik Nabers and safety Isaiah Simmons, have taken it upon themselves to recruit a big-name free agent. At the same time, their front office focuses on the draft.
Malik Nabers and Isaiah Simmons Want Tee Higgins
Simmons was traded to New York during training camp in 2023, and Nabers was drafted sixth overall by the team in the 2024 NFL Draft. Both are new to the Giants, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting on the free agent recruiting trail.
Nabers had an all-time rookie year, posting 1,204 yards on 109 receptions and seven touchdowns. Those 109 receptions were on 170 targets, which was second-most in the league behind Ja’Marr Chase. He was elected to the NFL Pro Bowl Games and was the lone beam of light for the Giants during a dark season.
Simmons had a different path to the Big Apple. The Arizona Cardinals selected him eighth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft as a chess-piece defensive player who could line up at linebacker and in the secondary. He never found a consistent home in the Cardinals’ defense, and the team traded him in August 2023.
Simmons went to Clemson, and his former Tigers teammate, Tee Higgins, will be the hot name in the upcoming free agency window. Nabers and Simmons have taken to social media to reunite the Clemson alums.
NEWS: #Giants stars Malik Nabers and Isaiah Simmons have been recruiting free agent star wide receiver Tee Higgins to come to New York.
👀
Simmons and Tee a very close friends from Clemson.
Higgins and Nabers together would be deadly.
(h/t @Baby__Cruz) pic.twitter.com/tlSZPadKt3
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) February 5, 2025
Higgins was the Cincinnati Bengals’ second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and quickly became one of the more effective receivers in the game. The Bengals selected Chase the following year, and the two have become a deadly combination.
He gained 911 yards on 73 receptions with ten touchdowns but only played in 12 games this season. Higgins has proven his worth as a Bengal, but the notoriously cheap team let his rookie contract expire and slapped the franchise tag on him for 2024.
This season, he made $21.8 million and is in line for a big payday that likely won’t come from Cincinnati. He’ll have his pick of the litter as PFSN’s #1 rated free agent, and New York could be high on the list. Higgins must determine what’s more important: more money or a chance to win a championship.
Teaming up with a former Clemson teammate and another LSU receiver could be a big-money landing spot, and the idea of Nabers and Higgins together instantly makes the Giants must-watch for 2025. However, the Giants are more than one great receiver away from legitimately competing in the NFC East. Time will tell what happens with the receiving star.