Giants' John Harbaugh 'hopeful' Malik Nabers will be back soon - ESPN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants coach John Harbaugh is especially pleased with the progress that wide receiver Malik Nabers has made of late and is «hopeful» he'll be back soon.

It's all positive news as the Giants enter their summer break. General manager Joe Schoen even told Yahoo Sports this week that he still thinks Nabers will be «fine» for Week 1.

Nabers tore his ACL in Week 4 last season, which required a full meniscus repair. He needed an additional cleanup procedure earlier this year to remove scar tissue that was causing stiffness.

The third-year wide receiver didn't take part in the Giants' mandatory minicamp this week. The team is now off until they report to training camp the final week of July in West Virginia.

«He said his plan is to be here most of the time, almost all the time he'll be here, I believe,» Harbaugh said after the final minicamp practice on Wednesday. «I don't think he will be here all the time. He's going to be here a lot working really hard. He's making really good progress right now. I'm very hopeful that he'll be back soon.

»Also, understand when you come back from a knee, he'll be back, and he'll still be building his way back to his ultimate full-strength self. But he's doing great. He's doing a great job. He's made some real good progress in the last few weeks."

Nabers' rehab hasn't exactly gone smoothly. The Giants originally thought he would likely be ready for the start of training camp, then audibled their projected timeline to sometime this summer before settling on being «hopeful» for Week 1.

Harbaugh said last month that Nabers' knee injury was «not simple» and he was in the «slog of it.» Nabers participated in Brian Burns' Celebrity Softball Game at the end of last