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It turns out John Harbaugh did tackle Malik Nabers on Saturday.
The New York Giants head coach corroborated Jaxson Dart’s story Monday about tackling the Giants’ No. 1 wide receiver during their walkthrough Saturday night at MetLife Stadium.
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Nabers, of course, was coming back from a catastrophic knee injury sustained in Week 4 of the Giants’ 2025 season. He was cleared to play against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night but was a game-time decision due to mental hurdles he had to clear.
Nabers had six catches for 69 yards in the Giants’ 28-20 win Sunday night, thanks in part to his head coach’s physical challenge.
John Harbaugh Confirms He Tackled Malik Nabers
Dart’s comments about Harbaugh tackling the previously injured Nabers captured the NFL world’s attention Monday morning, mainly because it was shocking to hear that a usually measured, 63-year-old coach would tackle one of his players.
But Harbaugh confirmed it happened and shared his version of events from the Giants’ walkthrough Saturday night.
“It evolved into an opportunity to tackle and I couldn’t pass it up,” Harbaugh said. “It was fun. It was all fun, a lot of laughs. Some guys gave me a sideways look like, ‘what are you doing?’”
According to Dart, Harbaugh was inspired by his own realization that Nabers would feel better after taking a hit.
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“It was right before we were supposed to out for our walkthrough, and we didn’t know what was going to happen [with Nabers],” Dart said after the Giants win. “Me and [Harbaugh] were having some conversations, and he was like ‘I think once he gets hit for the first time and realizes he’s OK, then he’s going to feel confident.’
“We were all just standing there, and all of a sudden [Nabers] goes down to the ground, and our team is super-protective of him, so we all looked around and [Harbaugh] is tackling him.”
John Harbaugh Has Tackled Players Before
Harbaugh said he likes to imitate tackling his players and also explained it was not the first time he had done so.
“I do tackle guys and like to imitate tackling guys, because I couldn’t tackle them in real life,” Harbaugh said. “I have done that before, so it wasn’t a first.”
Harbaugh’s tackling can’t be worse than the turf at MetLife Stadium, and Nabers survived both over the weekend.
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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 1:33 PM.