00:05At the start of the spring in OTAs, we had zero clue who the Giants wide receiver to
00:12was going to be opposite of Malik Nabors. Now, going into preseason game number two,
00:18third round pick Malachi Fields is making a strong case that he can take that job by possibly week
00:25one. 6'4", 220 with max catch radius. He gives Jackson Dart in this past game a different skill
00:33set than anyone else in that wide receiver room. He's consistently showing that he's a target JD6
00:41can simply throw open with this ball placement and not just skiing because his frame and his
00:47physicality makes the contested catches. In fact, here's Jackson Dart on what he's seen from the
00:55rookie so far. Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised of what he's doing. You know, the guys loved his tape.
01:02I loved his tape. I knew, you know, through conversation, you know, how like smart football
01:07player he was. So, you know, coming out here of learning a new offense and being able to be
01:12efficient. And then you just saw his catch radius in college, which is, you know, he made some
01:16unbelievable catches. And I thought that kind of what he did was a little limited compared to what
01:21he can do. And, you know, I'd love to have him out there. He's a true competitor, a true pro.
01:27And it's been, you know, really great to see because I think that as a team, you know, we needed
01:31a guy like that to come step up, especially on those outside making contested catches and downfield
01:35plays. And all that showed in week one preseason opener against the Vikings. His skill set produced
01:41receipts. 19 total offensive snaps, 10 of those being receiving snaps. He put up three catches on
01:48three targets, 34 yards, but he got a touchdown. Two of those catches were contested grabs and one
01:55was in the red zone on a scramble drill where he showed the awareness of a veteran to find open
02:00space. So let's break down that play in this Blue Rush Player Spotlight preseason edition.
02:07All right, here we go. You can see Malachi Fields right here, number one in the bunch concept. You got
02:12a three by one, three receivers to the strong side. You got one receiver to the weak side. The back
02:18is
02:19offset. They're alerting. Got some sort of alert going on right here. Let's watch the play and then
02:25we can slowly break it down. This is the TV copy. Yes. Jackson Dart scrambles. Malachi Fields goes high.
02:32And then you got lost. Six five, baby. That's six five going up for that football right here. Let's rewind
02:41it, rewind it and bring it back. And then let's break this thing down. I'm not focusing too much on
02:47the
02:47route concept and all of that good jazz, guys. We are just going to break down what Malachi Fields brings
02:54to this team in the red zone and how his awareness, his scramble drill awareness and mechanics helps
03:02extend the play and makes the play that gets them into the end zone on a second and 12 instead
03:08of
03:09Jackson Dart having to throwing throwing the ball away or scrambling and then having some sort of
03:14third and long or third and whatever. You want touchdowns. You want six points, not three. So here
03:22he is. You got a little drive concept. He's got the he's got the shallow cross. Usually the the point
03:28man
03:28will have some sort of basic or in he runs the glance. This receiver right here at a close split,
03:35he runs the glance and then the the back has some sort of flat control. But again, we're not looking
03:41at it. Let's just focus on let's focus on Malachi Fields. Here you've got the shallow cross. You got
03:46to wait for for one to clear out. Now we've got some sort of three hole type coverage cover three
03:53with
03:53this safety playing this hole. This backer, this wheel is going to buzz out to the flats and this
03:59backer here plays this whole technique and he replaces this backer. When it comes to these drive
04:06routes with this, you either want to sit it, you sit it down versus zone or against man to man
04:12or some
04:12sort of man isk type concept. Then you want to keep it moving. So you see him here trying to
04:18recognize
04:19what he wants to do, what these get a feel for what these backers are doing, how they're playing
04:24him. Usually you're going to want to sit it down right there, but he feels this linebacker
04:31attach and run with him. So he feels some sort of man technique. Plus this backer here has his back
04:38to him. He has his eyes on this running back. So Jackson Dart, he can actually tempo this or burst
04:45into this, get his eyes. Once he clears the, you always want to look once you clear, you can't look
04:51until you clear the center. But when you look, that means you're ready for the football. So Jackson
04:57Dart's not going to throw it to him until he looks too many times. You see young receivers, they start
05:03looking, they're not ready. They don't see what's ahead of them. And then bam, they run into a brick
05:08wall, get the smelling sawed out. But he's doing a great job here, figuring out, trying to navigate
05:14what this space is going to be like. And you see Jackson Dart kind of looking at him here. He's
05:19also looking at if he can maybe fit this ball in here to Darius Slayton. Doesn't like what he sees
05:25because this backer is attaching. Plus he has leakage from the middle. So this is where the scramble
05:35drill kicks in. And this kid understood his assignment and where he needs to be. Sees his
05:42quarterback is in trouble. If you scramble rule drills, if you high, you go low. If you low,
05:49you go high. Watch the way these two, the back end Malachi Fields navigate scramble drill and Malachi
05:57gets to the spot where he needs to be and where he is needed to make the play of this
06:03drive. Jackson
06:04Dart getting out, boom, extends the play. Automatically he's thinking, I'm going towards the end zone.
06:11Gets a little wrapped around. Jackson gets around. He can't see that. But now, what does he do?
06:18Sees that he's not, you're never going to be able to throw this ball from the right hand up and
06:24out
06:24over the top. So he adjusts that, gets his head back around. Great job by the back to go take
06:31a couple
06:31steps high, then come back down and become some sort of shorter option had Jackson Dart needed to throw
06:38this ball, get rid of it. But Malachi Fields finds space. Finds space and he finds where he needs to
06:46be. Jackson Dart throws it up and then, this is his skill set guys. This is why you trade up
06:52to go get
06:52him. You trade back into the third round to go get him. Now this isn't like a high jump where
06:58he can run
06:59and jump off that foot. This is pure vert. This is a one-hop vert right here. And I understand
07:05that's
07:06a, what, 5'11", that's a six-foot linebacker here. But this is what we call you got Moss. Attacks
07:12the football and high points it. He is 6'5". I've talked to this kid millions of times being around
07:20the Giants. We always talk about going up and playing where the Eagles play. Not the Philadelphia
07:27Eagles. I'm talking about the bird. Eagles fly high. They're in a different altitude and that's
07:33where this kid is playing. He plays where Plaxico Burris used to call above the rim. Attacks the
07:39football at his highest point. You can't get up there. This six-foot, 6'2", doesn't matter. He is
07:476'5", with long arms. If he jumps and attacks the football at his highest point, these DBs, linebackers,
07:55doesn't matter. They don't have a shot. Gets his foot, feet inbounds, and look, turns away
08:03from the defender so this hand can't get in there last minute and punch the ball away. Makes the play
08:09of that drive. Touchdown. I don't know about this. I was talking to him. You got to do something about
08:14that celebration. But you can see, you love it when his boys, his boys want it more for him. And
08:19Jackson Dart. You see that? Jackson Dart going. That's what the kids call head top. When they
08:25touch the top of the head, head top, head top. That means you just, you just maw somebody. So
08:30again, let's watch it. You see him come in phase late on this drive route. You see the safety kind
08:35of playing through this glance and, and keeping his eyes on that shallow cross ready to replace
08:43this Will linebacker. You see Malakai trying to navigate. All right, I've got a man attachment.
08:48Jackson wants to throw that ball. May even be able to fit it back here. I know I said he
08:52may go to,
08:52uh, to Darius Slayton here, but may even feel like he can put this ball right here where this York
08:58is,
08:59between that York and that football, and have this receiver go up and make this play here.
09:04Doesn't like it. Feels like there's too much, there's too much color there. He sees too much white
09:08on, on that blue, on Malakai Fields. Extends the drill. But instead of just going and, and tailoring
09:16down and, and running and for a five yard catch or playing small ball, you see Malakai Fields
09:21automatically turn, go up. And now this, again, watch it from here. Ooh. Ooh. I know it may be a
09:30little blurry right here, but you can put that on a poster somewhere. You can put that on a postcard,
09:35mail it out, lick the stamps, and send it to whoever you need to send it to. Love seeing this.
09:42I would love to get Plaxico Burris' thoughts on this because he'd give it two claps and a Ric Flair
09:48the way he goes up and plays above the rim. Gets the touchdown there. And look, these two,
09:54there's something brewing. There's something in the water. And I've been seeing it since OTAs,
10:00but I really got to see it down in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia in training camp. There's
10:07something going on between these two. And, and there's, there's a chemistry brewing. And this
10:13kid is really showing up for his quarterback day in and day out. As this kid continues to develop
10:20as a true NFL wide receiver, don't go buying into the, oh, he's just a size guy, or he's just
10:27a red
10:27zone threat. But man has shown that he's faster than his 40 time. And he's shown in practice that
10:33he can make plays down the field. Look, Malik neighbors, we all can agree. He's the clear number
10:38one. But Fields has started to make strides towards claiming that number two role. And I know vets like
10:45Darius Slate and Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin, they have the inside track on the complimentary wide
10:51receiver two type role. But there's a lot of people starting to take notice. And this kid is starting
10:58to force his way into that conversation as a rookie. And it's not just his big frame and his ability
11:05to
11:05go up and get the football. People around the organization view his hands as very reliable.
11:12Plus he has an added value as a run blocker. John Harbaugh wants his offense to have a run first
11:18identity. And the field's pick shows that he wanted to inject size and physical nastiness into the new
11:26look offense. The Giants are expected to favor a lot of two and three tight end type packages. That's a
11:33Harbaugh and Matt Nagy personnel staple. And this kid's size and the run blocking ability and element
11:40parts of his game. Come on, it's a no brainer. It fits perfectly. The more he makes plays, the more
11:46he makes
11:47the case for that starting spot because the Giants gave up their fourth, fifth and a future fourth
11:53round pick to move up and get him at number 74 overall. That's not a let him sit and develop
12:00type
12:00investment. That's a we drew this player up for this type of scheme type investment. This could be an
12:08investment that gets max ROI early in his career. Possibly. We'll see. But the true question is,
12:16can you, the rookie Malachi Fields, go out and take a spot that was designated for a vet?
12:23You've got our attention.
