Michael Strahan has to be wondering why Abdul Carter wants a quarterback’s number before the jersey of the NFL’s single-game sacks record holder.
What, Carter wanted Nos. 56 and 11 but not 92? Doesn’t he want to stomp quarterbacks out?
Seriously, where does it end?
Enough of this Numbergate can of worms opened by the Giants’ unretiring of Ray Flaherty’s No. 1 for Malik Nabers last year. It’s time to have a conversation about Carter that really matters:
How Giants coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen actually intend to use the No. 3 overall draft pick in their scheme.
Because while Carter played on the edge of Penn State’s last year, circumstances may dictate that Carter could end up playing more off-ball linebacker for the Giants as a rookie than outsiders might expect.
With experience at that position in college before his position change, Carter may end up rotating between the edge and off-ball linebacker for the Giants in year one, creating a hybrid role similar to his Nittany Lions predecessor, Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys.
Here’s why: The Giants defense played nickel with five defensive backs on 61.7% of their snaps in 2025.
So the majority of their defensive snaps this season when their top 11 is healthy is expected to feature the following five DBs: corners Paulson Adebo, Deonte Banks and Dru Phillips and safeties Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin.
That leaves room for six more players, which typically breaks down as two down defensive linemen, two edges and two off-ball linebackers.
Before Carter’s draft selection, that would have broken down as Dexter Lawrence and a second interior lineman on the inside, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the edges and Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden at off-ball LB.
So now put Carter on the field. Who is Bowen sending to the sideline? Thibodeaux?
Lawrence’s partner in crime on the inside at the moment profiles as a rotation of Rakeem Nunez-Roches, rookie third-round pick Darius Alexander, veteran Jeremiah Ledbetter and maybe even Chauncey Golston, who can play both inside and outside.
Thibodeaux is not an inside player, other than maybe in a third-down NASCAR package that features three or four ends rushing the passer on third and long at once.
And while Thibodeaux has regressed as an edge run defender since his rookie season, he is still better in that role as an NFL player than Carter, a rookie with explosive raw traits who is still learning not to overcommit to the ball and the quarterback at that position.
So again, where does Carter fit in this defense if the Giants don’t intend to take him off the field?
He seems like a more natural fit, frankly, at off-ball linebacker given the team’s personnel.
He could blitz from off the line of scrimmage, attack gaps and draw the offensive line’s attention from the defensive line rushing up front. And he has speed and instincts in space to explode to the ball-carrier.
Bowen does not have experience running the kind of multiple, variable system to move this kind of chess piece around from down to down. But he and Daboll are going to need a plan here.
The Giants will obviously be hesitant to remove Carter from the edge rusher position entirely because of his production there in his final college season — his first full year at that spot — and the potential that means for his ability to change games.
The Giants’ defensive roster build at the moment, however, does not match how they’re going to need to win games.
Daboll’s offense typically does not score enough points to fully unleash a pass rush in critical moments. Carter has helped augment an edge rusher position and provide more talent and depth for when the Giants’ defensive line can pin its ears back.
But how often are they going to be able to do that? They need the offense to score and take leads and dictate the game’s strategy to lean all the way into that personnel usage and that type of aggressive attack.
What they’re going to need is their best 11 on the field to stop the run and make plays on the football, but typically in a formation that features five defensive backs to match up with three-wide receiver offensive sets.
Not to mention that even when they are forced into a base defensive structure with four DBs and three down defensive linemen, Carter and Thibodeaux still do not fill that extra spot on the inside.
There is nothing wrong with creating a rotation to spread out snaps at edge to keep the pass rushers fresh. It helps over the course of the long season.
The Giants, though, will want to have their best 11 on the field more often than not.
That’s why the most interesting part of Carter’s onboarding to the Giants, starting with this weekend’s rookie minicamp, will not be what number he is wearing.
It will be where he is playing and where he gets moved around Bowen’s defense, down to down and week to week, to get the most out of his and this defense and the investment in him at No. 3 overall.
