Abdul Carter Had Emphatically Confident Answer to First Big Challenge With Giants

He's not afraid to line up all over the Big Blue defense.

Abdul Carter rides to the Giants facility after the 2025 NFL draft. / via New York Giants/YouTube

The New York Giants had plenty of needs entering the 2025 NFL draft, and believe that the player they selected with the No. 3 pick can help their defense in myriad ways: Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter.

Carter primarily played as a standup outside linebacker in 2022 and '23 before moving to defensive end in '24, where he played 94% of his defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, en route to a consensus All-American season. Carter recorded career highs in tackles (68) and sacks (12), and forced a pair of fumbles on the year.

He drew comparisons to another destructive defensive player out of Penn State during the pre-draft process, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons. The Giants certainly hope that he can have a similar impact that Parsons has for their NFC East rivals, and laid out a pretty ambitious plan for Carter during a visit two weeks before draft day (eight-minute mark of the video below).

His answer was music to the Giants coaching staff's ears.

"You obviously can win on the edge, you obviously can beat guards and you can beat a center, so you have to learn all five spots," said New York outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen during the meeting. "You good with that?"

"You can add more if you want," Carter confidently replied.

Giants: You have to learn all 5 spots

Abdul Carter: You can add more if you want pic.twitter.com/F9DVaNizWu

— Giants Nation Show (@GiantsNationPod) May 8, 2025

Carter joins a talented Giants front seven that already features Dexter Lawrence II, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, among others. The team still has plenty of question marks, most notably a tenuous quarterback situation with Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, Tommy DeVito and rookie Jaxson Dart all in the QB room.

If nothing else, Big Blue should be able to emulate one area in which the Super Bowl XLII and XLVI championship teams excelled at: getting after the quarterback.

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