If you didn’t think the superstar hype could grow any louder for Abdul Carter, you would be dead wrong.
This is a player who made First Team All-Big Ten twice at two different positions. Someone who in his first-ever single season as an EDGE rusher recorded 12.0 sacks and 68 tackles in one of college football’s most difficult conferences.
Now he’ll be playing on a defensive line alongside Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns on a defense that’ll be a quarterback’s worst nightmare. Can you say breakout star three times fast?
And he's been turning heads throughout the summer.
Abdul Carter receives high praise from Bleacher Report writer
Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder listed five edge rushers below 25 to buy stock into, and Carter was among the names he listed. The reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year was joined by the likes of Aidan Hutchinson and the last two Defensive Rookie of the Year in Jared Verse and Will Anderson.
“Seeing as Abdul Carter hasn't played a down in the NFL yet, he's the biggest wild card and gamble out of all the players named here,” Holder wrote. “His traits are worth betting on, though, and early investors can expect to yield a high return, hence why the New York Giants made him the third pick of last April's draft.”
The Penn State product possesses the skill set to transform a defense, and that’s exactly what the Giants are asking him to do. The 21-year-old has the tools to be a legitimate nightmare off the edge: he’s got speed, power, freaky athleticism, and a relentless motor. Talk about being built in a lab for the modern-day NFL.
The native Pennsylvanian is a true disruptor, and seeing that teams can’t even double team him, that is a true recipe for disaster. Which is why he has been compared to another former Nittany Lion in Micah Parsons.
Big Blue’s defensive identity has faded over the last few seasons, and Carter has all the makings of a player who can bring it back. He has the swagger that fans have been searching for since the days of Jason Pierre-Paul, Michael Strahan, and Justin Tuck.
If Carter delivers as expected — and all signs suggest he will — the Giants may have landed their second franchise cornerstone in as many drafts. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t even suited up in training camp, let alone on Sunday.