The Giants might have a solution to get Abdul Carter on the field more often while filling a new hole on their defense:
Play him more often at off-ball linebacker, behind the line of scrimmage instead of on it.
Carter told the Daily News on Thursday he’s ready for anything.
“However my coaches need me, I’ll line up wherever they need me at,” the rookie pass rusher said at his locker. “I’ve played off ball linebacker before, so it wouldn’t be something that was out of the question or something I haven’t done before. I have experience doing it.”
Asked about the pros and cons of putting Carter on the line versus off the ball, the No. 3 overall pick said: “I don’t think there’s any cons to it. It’s being versatile, move around, be wherever my coaches need me to line up.”
Carter played five of his 38 defensive snaps at off-ball linebacker in the Giants’ Week 1 loss to Washington and 33 snaps on the defensive line, per Pro Football Focus. He said it takes “having confidence in being able to play different positions” to take that versatility into games.
That was his position early on at Penn State before he switched to edge rusher in his final college season of 2024. Now that might be Brian Daboll’s and Shane Bowen’s best way to get their top 11 players on the field on defense.
Two Giants inside linebackers have gone down with injuries this week. Starter Micah McFadden (right foot surgery) is out long-term on injured reserve, and backup Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (calf) aggravated an injury in Wednesday’s practice.
While second-year linebacker Darius Muasau is still expected to log some early down run snaps next to veteran Bobby Okereke against Dallas, Carter’s versatility should lead to more frequent usage.
It could also put Carter, Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the field together more than the nine snaps they shared in Week 1.
Carter led the Giants with three quarterback pressures in their Week 1 loss to Washington despite only playing 54% of the defensive snaps. But he said there were both positive plays and learning experiences from his NFL debut after watching the film.
“There’s a lot,” he said of his takeaways from the game. “I would just say that being my first game, I felt like it wasn’t too bad. Obviously there’s all the things you did good, but you gotta focus on the plays you did bad on so next time you can go out there and correct the things you didn’t do as well the week before.”
One of the things Carter can do better is make sure he finishes every single play.
Carter, Dexter Lawrence and Roy Robertson-Harris did not chase Deebo Samuel on Washington’s last touchdown once the ball carrier crossed their faces around the left edge with 7:09 to play in Sunday’s fourth quarter.
Only Thibodeaux pursued the play the whole way on the Giants’ front.
That was also Carter’s final play of the game, with the Giants using heavier personnel to try to stop the Washington running game on the Commanders’ last drive.
Carter was asked if needs to finish a play like that better and chase the ball down.
“Yeah, for sure,” Carter said. “Yeah.”
Was that a teaching point the Giants touched on this week while reviewing the tape?
“That’s really a standard, so that really should be something that we don’t even got to say,” Carter said. “We gonna hold ourselves accountable for that. because in practice we try to practice all the good habits, running to the ball, finishing plays, things like that.”
On the positive side, Carter tackled Jayden Daniels late in the second quarter and pressured him into a throwaway intentional grounding that ran the clock out without the Commanders putting any extra points on the board.
Carter did not lunge at Daniels on the play, though. He guarded him almost upright like a basketball player.
Why? To avoid the worst case.
“It’s like the last play, you really don’t want nothing bad to happen on the last play,” Carter said. “So I want to make sure I don’t want to leave my feet diving at people, you know. We got off the field… We got our job done.”
Micah Parsons once roamed the Cowboys’ field at AT&T Stadium as the next great Penn State pass rusher. Parsons admitted he’s looking forward to playing on the same stage — and perhaps he’ll be used with Parsons-like versatility.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think Penn State is really Edge Rush U. That’s thanks to our D-line coach Deion Barnes. It’s not just me and Micah. We got a bunch of guys in the league that came out of Penn State: [the Dolphins’] Chop [Robinson], [the Ravens’] Odafe [Oweh]. We got guys coming up in college right now in [Dani Dennis-Sutton] and [Zane] Durant at Penn State. So Penn State’s pretty much a factory for all the D linemen.”
BLAND OUT FOR ‘BOYS
The Dallas Cowboys will be without cornerback DaRon Bland on Sunday due to a right foot injury he sustained in Monday’s practice. So the Giants may be able to take advantage down the field more than they did against the Commanders.
Dallas corner Trevon Diggs is expected to play more than the 27 snaps he logged in the Cowboys’ Week 1 loss to the Eagles as he eases back in from knee surgery. And former Bill Kaiir Elam is a solid acquisition on the Cowboys’ back end. But there is no experienced depth behind them on coordinator Matt Eberflus’ defense.
Reddy Steward is a second-year pro claimed off waivers in late August after he was cut by the Minnesota Vikings. He played 18 defensive snaps for the Chicago Bears last season. Rookie Trikweze Bridges is a seventh-round 2025 Chargers draft pick who was also claimed off waivers after roster cuts.
And veteran corner C.J. Goodwin is a special teamer.
Dallas safety Malik Hooker (foot) was limited for a second straight day. Backup safety Juanyeh Thomas did not participate for personal reasons.
THOMAS NOT LOOKING GOOD FOR WEEK 2
Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas (foot) participated in practice after skipping Wednesday’s padded practice but was still limited. So he’s at risk of missing a second straight game to start the year.
Wide receiver Darius Slayton (groin) and defensive lineman Rakeem Nuñez-Roches Sr. (foot) were added to Thursday’s injury report as limited for the first time this regular season.
Wednesday’s good news was that wide receiver Malik Nabers (back) was upgraded to a full participant after being limited to start the week, and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (paternity) was back at practice after being gone Wednesday for the birth of his first child.
Wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (ankle) was limited after missing Wednesday. Flannigan-Fowles (calf) and McFadden (foot) did not participate.
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