Expectations are higher than ever for New York Giants edge rusher Abdul Carter. Some of those expectations are self-imposed, as the second-year pro set the lofty goal of winning the Defensive Player of the Year award.
We've talked all offseason about how Carter is primed for a breakout campaign. Now, it's time for the former top-three draft pick to prove it.
He couldn't ask for a better first opportunity to show how much he's developed. The Giants take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, and Carter's matchup with Dallas left tackle Tyler Guyton will be must-watch TV.
Abdul Carter can get his Giants breakout off to a hot start against Cowboys
Guyton hasn't been the steady presence at tackle that the Cowboys expected when they took him in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. In two seasons, he has allowed pressure on 4.1% of his pass-blocking snaps and has been penalized 25 times.
He even entered training camp in a battle for the starting left tackle spot, though he quickly won the job. One of the worst games of Guyton's career came against the G-Men last season, when he allowed five pressures and was penalized twice. Carter produced four pressures and one quarterback hit in that game.
Carter can quickly make the Cowboys regret trusting Guyton to be Dak Prescott's blindside protector. He'll get plenty of opportunities against the third-year tackle, and most of them should be one-on-one looks, as Dallas will also have to account for Brian Burns on the other side.
Generating pressure won't be enough, though. The Giants defender will need to convert his pressures into sacks, which was a consistent issue for him last season. He logged 66 pressures, which ranked 13th in the NFL, but he only managed to convert four of them into sacks. That's just 6% of his pressures turning into sacks. Burns, on the other hand, converted on 31% of his pressures.
If he's going to get anywhere close to DPOY territory this season, that conversion rate has to improve dramatically.
The path to a breakout starts on Sunday night. Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Cowboys are expected to make a playoff push this season after some offseason tweaks. In his matchup with Guyton, Carter has an early opportunity to shut that narrative down and set his second season on the breakout trajectory that fans are hoping to see.
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