To this day, Nike still sends gloves to Nicks. Not only are they massive, but they’re a bright red that makes his hands looks like lobster claws when he goes up for a catch.
Nicks’s biggest grab of this season was easily the Hail Mary he hauled in against Green Bay in the divisional round that helped send the Packers home far earlier than they had planned. The ball actually went through his hands and hit his facemask before he trapped it with both mitts. Once there, it was never leaving.
“He has some freakishly large hands,’’ said Victor Cruz, who was the Giants’ leading receiver this season. “As a receiver, it’s definitely a plus to have those hands.’’
In his three seasons, Nicks has caught more passes (202) for more yards (3,034) and more touchdowns (24) than any of the Giants’ other receivers.
Around the locker room, his hands are easy targets.
“It’s not, like, abnormal, some crazy hulk hands,’’ said Cruz. “But he has huge hands and it shows on the field. We clown him all the time.’’
To paint a picture of how big Nicks’s hands are, receiver Mario Manningham put his left hand over his right so that the left eclipsed the right by half a finger.
“He’s probably one of the only players that can palm a helmet,’’ said Manningham.
Because of that, Nicks can make catches that others can’t.
Manningham remembered one he made while he was falling back.
“It didn’t even look like he stuck his hand out,’’ Manningham said. “It looked like he just had three fingers. After that, I knew. I was, like, ‘Yeah man, you’ve got some mitts on you.’ ’’
Nicks knows it’s a gift.
“I’ve made catches just catching the ball with the tip of my fingertips sometimes,’’ he said. “Just some kind of crazy catches just because my hands touched it.’’
It’s the only way he can explain some of his greatest grabs.
Such as the behind-the-back catch four years ago against West Virginia in the Meineke Car Care Bowl - “the one I’m famous for,’’ he said.
