As the New York Giants celebrate their 100th season, a big part of that history is tied to highly regarded rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers.
Nabers, who was selected sixth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft out of LSU, has received permission from the family of former Giants star player Ray Flaherty to wear Flaherty’s No. 1 – the first number in professional football history to be retired at the end of the 1935 season.
Nabers thanked Flaherty’s family in a statement accompanying the team’s announcement of the change in his number.
“I understand the responsibility and will do everything in my power to honor the Flaherty family and this organization,” Nabers said. “I will wear the number with great pride and can’t wait for the season to begin.”
Nabers wore No. 8 during his time as a standout wide receiver at LSU and wore No. 9 for the Giants in the preseason (No. 8 is worn by starting quarterback Daniel Jones).
A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Flaherty led the Giants to the 1934 NFL championship, more than 30 years before the Super Bowl was introduced. He was selected to the All-Pro first team seven times in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In between, he spent a year on the sidelines in 1930, coaching the football team at his alma mater, Gonzaga. (Gonzaga dropped its football program in 1941 and is now known as one of the most prominent non-football sports colleges in the country thanks to the success of its men’s basketball program.)
Flaherty later coached the now-Washington Commanders from 1936 to 1942 and was later called one of the most influential figures in the franchise’s history.
Flaherty died in 1994, nine years before Nabers’ birth in 2003.
Nabers surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in his final two college football seasons at LSU, including the 2023 season when he finished second in the entire FBS behind fellow top-10 pick Rome Odunze with 1,569 receiving yards to Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Nabers is expected to immediately become the best receiver on the Giants’ roster.
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