Practice collisions happen all the time. But to hear of coaches getting badly injured as a result is rare. New York Giants wide receivers coach Chad Hall walked away from Thursday’s practice with a busted lip, courtesy of Malik Nabers. The injury was serious enough to require stitches right then on the sidelines. But Hall tried to downplay it in front of the media.
“I was like, ‘I’m fine. Just give me some stitches, let me get back out there,” Chad Hall told Giants Nation Show, with dried blood on his face.
“The Novocaine’s wearing off a little bit,” he joked later on.
What really happened? Hall was lined up as the defensive back for a release drill on Thursday, with Nabers working on getting off the line, when the two turned their heads the same way and collided. Nabers’ helmet caught Hall square in the mouth, splitting his lip badly enough that he needed stitches right there on the field.
As for Nabers, he is still wearing the red no-contact jersey as he works his way back from injury, so nobody’s supposed to lay a hand on him. The collision with Hall was a mix-up, since they were working on an individual drill.
Coach John Harbaugh explained what happened.
“We have a rule that everybody respects the red jersey for Malik, obviously,” Harbaugh said. “In individual, Chad was [working as a] DB, and Malik was releasing off of Chad. Somehow, they crossed signals on which way they were going. Malik went to punch his way through, arm over, and caught Chad right in the face. Chad Hall took stitches on the field. Tough dude.”
Hall is new to this role. He played wide receiver in the NFL from 2010 to 2014 and spent time with Buffalo and Jacksonville as a coach before joining the Giants. Last season, he coached quarterbacks as an assistant, too.
Nabers escaped the collision unscathed, which matters a lot given he’s still working back from last year’s torn ACL and trying to recapture the form that made his rookie season so impressive. As a rookie, he recorded 109 receptions for 1,200 yards.
Hall shared his own take on Nabers’ progress too.
“We’re putting him in different positions, just trying to get him more comfortable,” Hall said. “But he looks great. He’s more confident. He was just as excited as the whole team was to see him out there making some plays, getting pushed on a little bit.”
On the field, Nabers stayed involved in individual drills, offensive installs, and routes on air like usual. The new wrinkle was a three-quarter-speed 11-on-11 session, where he hauled in a catch on each of his first four snaps.
Small steps, sure, but for a guy who missed most of last season, every one of them counts.
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