NY Giants Abdul Carter Among PFF's Top Rookies in Week 1

The Giants first-round edge rusher made sure his presence was felt in his NFL debut and is being deservingly recognized for his good start.

New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter (51)l is shown during pregame practice, Thursday, August 21, 2025, in East Rutherford. | Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Giants' season opener left much to be desired for a roster that has carried endless expectations to be improved over the past several months. 

If there were any bright spots to pull from Week 1, one of them was the debut of rookie outside linebacker Abdul Carter, who made his presence felt. 

Giants fans were by no means surprised to see their No. 3 pick in April’s draft make an impact from the jump. 

It was precisely the reason that Joe Schoen wagered his top draft asset on the Penn State phenom: to add a little more juice and a special dose of versatility to a defensive front that already had three talented pass rushers to get after the opposing quarterback. 

With the expectation for the Giants group of edge rushers to be one of their main catalysts for competing with the rest of the league, the first-year Carter wasted no time flashing his gifted abilities in honest work during the preseason, with five pressures in just double the pass rushing snaps. 

In Washington last Sunday, Carter returned right where he left off, getting into the Commanders’ backfield and causing some trouble for quarterback Jayden Daniels and their offense that was already a bit hampered on the offensive line before the game. 

While the rookie’s efforts, and those of the rest of the Giants' front seven, might not have been enough to help them secure a rare victory in the first week of the season, it was ample enough evidence to show that Carter is ready for the big leagues and is truly going to be something special. 

Pro Football Focus was quick to acknowledge him in the aftermath of the NFL’s first slate of action, naming Carter among the 22 novice players who made up their rookie team of the week following their first taste of meaningful football at the professional level.

“Considered to be one of the top edge defender prospects in years, Abdul Carter displayed he was more than worthy of being the third overall pick in the draft,” the analysis said. 

“The Penn State product recorded three pressures in his debut, including his first NFL sack.”

Sep 7, 2025; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) runs the ball as New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter (51) defends during the second quarter at Northwest Stadium. | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Carter was certainly efficient in his NFL debut, giving the Giants a promising outing that led the entire defense with an 81.5 grade and disturbed the Commanders' offensive flow in the early portions of the contest when the deficit was still within reach.

Similarly to the preseason, when he saw a modest handful of snaps against first-team offensive linemen, he found a few reps where the designed confusion from the Giants’ pass rushing schemes enabled him to earn a fast lane to Daniels after wrecking those one-on-one battles. 

The one element of Carter’s day that didn’t stand out was his overall usage with the rest of his fellow edge rushers. Carter appeared in just 38 total snaps on Sunday, which marked only a 54% share of the team’s total defensive snaps (70).

Moreover, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen did not run many snaps with all four of his talented bulls on the field at once, a special weapon many have thought the Giants would deploy on big third and fourth downs to shut down crucial offensive drives like the few that arose against Washington. 

Giants Defensive Snap Combinations

• All 4 of Dex + Burns + Carter + Thibs played together on 8/65 snaps (12%)

• At least 3 of those 4 = 39/65 snaps (60%)

• At least 2 of Burns+Carter+Thibs = 54/65 snaps (83%)

• All 11 of Banks snaps replaced Flott pic.twitter.com/YUbA9nIudd

— Doug Analytics (@Doug_Analytics) September 8, 2025

Instead, the deadly combination of Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Carter saw just eight defensive snaps together, and only 60% of those same snaps featured at least three of the aforementioned players. 

That is not an acceptable amount of usage for a prospect who was taken with the top five in the draft to be an absolute game wrecker for the Giants, and something that needs to be increased in the next game against the Dallas Cowboys this weekend.

If he was struggling to get into the backfield or whiffing on his possible plays, one could understand the reasoning for limiting his reps and counting more on the veteran pieces that Schoen assembled in free agency to strengthen the defensive interior to get the job done.

Still, that wasn’t the case for Carter, who finished his first NFL game with a 13.6% win rate that sat third-highest on the Giants' leaderboard among players who registered at least 30 pass defensive snaps against Washington. 

As the gears shift to another important divisional battle against the Cowboys, it would be nice to see the Giants give their proven rookie weapon a bigger stab at impacting their efforts on the field. 

The Cowboys will flash an equally talented offense with numerous receivers that can dominate if given the time to connect with quarterback Dak Prescott.

The Giants can’t afford to let that happen endlessly if they want to hang around and potentially steal a much-needed win against a team they haven't beaten in four seasons. Carter has shown he can hang with the big guys in the trenches and needs to be let loose and trusted to do a solid job. 

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