Abdul Carter’s training camp breakout is becoming impossible to ignore

When Abdul Carter has 300 sacks for the New York Giants this year, don't say I didn't tell you so. Okay, well, maybe not 300, but definitely an amount that puts him among the NFL's elite pass rushers.

While his rookie stat sheet shows just 4.0 sacks, his staggering 72 quarterback pressures prove he was always seconds away from a massive play. All that missed-it-by-that-much production is about to turn into some real terrifying numbers.

And you can feel it, especially through the first two days of training camp.

Calling Carter unblockable on Day 2 is honestly insulting to how badly he dominated out there. The second-year pass-rusher racked up three "would-be" sacks in team drills while lining up directly across from Andrew Thomas. Pro Football Focused recently ranked Thomas as the 7th-best offensive tackle in the league entering 2026, making what the 22-year-old did to him that much more impressive.

Carter just made one of the league's best pass protectors look like a turnstile, which only means the rest of the NFL is in serious trouble.

All aboard the Abdul Carter Year 2 hype train

This version of the former Penn State star looks nothing like the rookie who underperformed in East Rutherford last year. Carter's first season featured plenty of frustrating moments regarding his maturity and accountability. The coaching staff even benched him twice last year for missing team meetings and sleeping through practices.

Oh, how far we've come.

That (better late than never) tough love from interim head coach Mike Kafka completely changed his trajectory. Carter got the message, locked in, and finished his rookie campaign on an absolute heater, getting 3.5 of his 4.0 sacks in the last five weeks of the season. It's amazing what being held accountable can do.

He began converting those near-miss pressures into actual sacks down the stretch, finally showing the top-three pick pedigree general manager Joe Schoen and then-head coach Brian Daboll fell in love with.

Luckily, he's carried that momentum over into 2026. He's been on just about every breakout candidate listicle this offseason. Even teammates like Brian Burns have publicly praised his newfound work ethic. It certainly looks like Carter spent the offseason working on his technique instead of relying purely on his freakish athleticism to make a play. That might've worked in college, but it won't in the pros.

His day was so impressive that it caught the attention of Thomas:

Head coach John Harbaugh:

And even safety Jevón Holland:

in each of their post-practice pressers.

It's no secret that Big Blue's defense needs Carter to break out. The G-Men have a superstar in Burns, but they need another threat because a team can never have too many good pass-rushers.

If he keeps playing like he did on Day 2 -- treating Thomas like a commoner and seemingly making his presence known on every single play -- this defense is going to be a nightmare to deal with. Consider this the moment when the rest of the league needed to start worrying.

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