Giants Edge Rusher Lorenzo Carter Ready for the Next Step
Giants rusher Lorenzo Carter has recorded 8.5 sacks in two seasons as a pro so far, which isn’t horrible production.
But with the Giants looking to develop a homegrown blue-chip pass rusher, Carter knows his production can be better, and he’s been working to ensure he addresses his deficiencies while adding to his strengths.
As noted in our recent film study of Carter, there is quite a lot that he’s shown he can do well, such as setting the edge against the run and showing signs of near-elite level pass-rush ability.
According to Pro Football Focus, Carter has logged 403 snaps in run defense and has 39 career stops for zero or negative yardage, a 9.6% career run-stop rate.
In 395 pass-rush snaps, he has produced 64 total pressures, including the 8.5 sacks mentioned earlier. That translates to Carter having created some sort of disruption on 16.2% of his pass rushes.
While the promise has been there, the consistency has not, and that is something Carter has been seeking to improve as he prepares for his upcoming third NFL season.
“I think it's always this or finding your game, trying become a more powerful player,” he said when asked to assess his game thus far. “For me, just making sure I do everything and put myself in the position to be successful with or whatever the coaches asked me to do.”
Among the many things the coaches have had Carter working on are his hand usage and his pass rush angles. On occasion, last season, Carter’s angles were a little too wide, which, thanks to the additional split second or two, allowed for opposing quarterbacks to get rid of the ball faster.
“A lot of times, it comes down to what types of angles you have. That’s one thing I saw a lot last year and then the coaches pointed it out to me when we got into the lab this year,” he said.
There is also a matter of being more patient and not trying to force the pass rush.
“Yeah, this year, it's a lot of emphasis on doing your job and making sure that you don't try to go outside of your responsibilities and give up different things by trying to make a play,” Carter said.
“If we do our job and just stay locked in on the moment, like then on the play then it's going to come to you and it's either don't come to you or you go force it to somebody else. So that's just the big thing. Staying patient being a lot more patient this year is trying to go do things outside of your responsibility.”
This year, the Giants edge rusher room is a lot more crowded. Besides Carter and second-year-man Oshane Ximines, veteran Markus Golden is back for another year.
The team also added veteran free-agent Kyler Fackrell from the Packers, who achieved 10.5 sacks in 2018 with Patrick Graham as his position coach. They also added rookie linebackers Cam Brown in the sixth round and Carter Coughlin in the seventh, both of whom have pass-rushing ability.
“I think it's great that we have a lot of talent and that we're a little deeper in that room,” Carter said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in the room that have a lot of different skill sets. It comes down to us making sure that we maximize our abilities and trusting the coaches, making sure that they put us in the right positions.”
At times last year, there was some question about whether players were put in the right position to make plays. That also led to some guys overcompensating for holes that developed by playing outside of their assignment, which created yet more problems for the scheme.
This year, Carter said the coaching staff has regularly emphasized the importance of everyone doing their respective jobs within the scheme.
“Do the fundamentals and then make sure you do your job to the best of your ability,” he said of the coaches’ message to the defensive players. “So I think if we do that, if I do my job, set edges, let the linebackers do their jobs, fill gaps, and we just play together as a team, we're going to have a great chance to be successful.”
In addition to working on his hand usage and angles, Carter revealed that he’s been watching film this off-season of pass rushers from around the league, looking to see what little tricks he might be able to pick up and incorporate into his own game, which he’s not looking to overhaul, but simply make more productive.
But above all else, Carter said the coaching staff has been drilling home the importance of being fundamentally sound.
“That’s a lot of what we’ve been working on, not even specifically just pass rush or specifically run,” he said. “It’s more the coaches are looking at our feet, making sure we’re putting our feet in the right places, having our eyes in the right places.
“The rest they trust that we have the ability to make plays. But once we get the fundamentals down and make sure we get our eyes on our keys and know what we’re looking at and we’re looking for, everything else will follow.”
Get the latest Giants news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of the page. Or sign up to receive our free daily newsletter.
