Giants' Abdul Carter issues a warning the league is scared to admit

When it comes to pressuring opposing quarterbacks, Abdul Carter is in a league of his own.

The 21-year-old rookie outside linebacker might not have the counting stats other premier pass-rushers have, but make no mistake about it — the New York Giants have something truly special in No. 51. He’s quickly becoming one of the betting favorites for Defensive Rookie of the Year, which is another reason to buy all the way into this team from here on out.

Carter enters Week 8 with a modest 0.5 sacks, 16 tackles, and eight quarterback hits. Waits for pushback. You’re probably looking at those numbers and thinking the oddsmakers must have lost their minds. But peel back the curtain a bit, and you’ll see what this guy has been doing — and it’s worth it.

Abdul Carter is becoming everything the Giants hoped for and more

Just how impressive has the former Penn State standout been? You could ask perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Myles Garrett, who trails the third-overall pick in time to pressure the quarterback.

Well... technically, everyone trails Big Blue's rookie, and that's kind of the point:

Giants fans should be fired up. Full stop. This teeters on diabolical. Carter leads the league in average time to pressure at an insane 2.13 seconds. The rookie explodes off the snap, wrecks plays early, and doesn’t need cleanup help to make his mark.

But don’t stop at his get-off. Carter’s ranking across multiple rookie pass-rushing categories is laughably impressive:

• First place: 27 quarterback pressures (beats second place by 13 pressures)
• First place: Pro Football Focus pass-rush grade 75.4
• First place: Pass-rush win rate 12.4%

For those of us who prefer visuals to text, it actually makes his pressure numbers even more ridiculous:

So yes, it’s easy to look at the stat line and want more sacks. Trust me, we all do. But they only tell part of the story. The other part is he’s already becoming one of the league’s most dangerous pass-rushers — and the league might want to take notice.

It doesn’t help that Brian Burns leads the league with nine sacks, but Carter might just be quicker... not that that’s possible.

Related: Giants MVP through six weeks has been everything they needed and more

The sack totals will come. Look no further than reigning DROY Jared Verse. His electric rookie year ended with just 4.5 sacks. But it was his overall impact on games that made him a problem. Carter has that — and then some.

While rookie quarterback sensation Jaxson Dart is taking the league by storm, Carter’s doing an equally impressive job on the less glamorous side of the ball.

The warning’s already been issued — the league just doesn’t want to admit it’s real.