2025 NFL Draft prospect profile – Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State

Will Carter be the next great pass rusher from Penn State?

The 2025 NFL Draft is incredibly deep at a few positions, and the EDGE class is the highlight of the class. This year’s draft could see a dozen edge defenders drafted over the course of the first two rounds, and most of them will be starters very early in their respective careers.

Penn State’s Abdul Carter is sitting at the top of the class and is almost certain to be one of the first three players drafted.

2024 is Carter’s first season an edge defender after playing off-ball linebacker previously. However his extreme explosiveness and aggressiveness attacking into the backfield made him one of the very best pass rushers in the nation.

What makes Carter so good, and could he put a defense like the New York Giants over the top?

Prospect: Abdul Carter (11)
Games Watched: vs. Ohio State (2023), vs. West Virginia (2024), vs. Ohio State (2024), vs. Minnesota (2024)
Red Flags: Shoulder (2024) Stress reaction (2025)

Measurables

Kent Lee Platte | RAS.football

Strengths

Best traits

• Explosiveness
• Athleticism
• Versatility
• Disruptiveness
• Snap timing

Penn State’s Abdul Carter is an explosively athletic and remarkably disruptive EDGE prospect.

Carter has near prototypical size for a modern edge defender at a lean 6-foot-3, 250 pounds. His 33-inch arms are a bit less than ideal, however not prohibitively so. He has solid thickness in his upper and lower body, as well as good fluidity and an incredibly twitchy brand of athleticism.

2024 was his first season as an edge defender after moving from off-ball linebacker and he’s obviously still learning his craft. That said, Carter has shown a natural talent for several areas of the position.

Most notably, he excels at anticipating and timing the snap. He’s often the first player moving at the snap of the ball and has a truly explosive first step on top of that. Carter is able to stress almost any tackle with his raw speed off the edge, and has enough lower-body flexibility to maintain leverage and carry that speed into the backfield. He shows improving hand usage, initially relying exclusively on a rip move, but added club, swipe, and push-pull moves as the year progressed.

Carter is a pure speed rusher with an excellent closing burst which allows him to be very disruptive in the backfield. He led the FBS in pressures (66) and pressure rate (19.6 percent) last year, as well as posting an excellent 35.1 percent pass rush win rate.

Carter also retains the ability to drop into coverage and play as an off-ball linebacker. He isn’t particularly instinctive as a linebacker and is much more of a “read and react” defender. However, his athleticism allows him to still be a viable defender in space and give the defense an added dimension.

Weaknesses

Worst traits

• Play strength
• Run defense
• Instincts in space

Weaknesses in Carter’s profile are hard to come by, and in some ways they’re more artifacts of his untapped upside than anything else.

The single biggest weakness in Carter’s game is a lack of play strength. That isn’t to say that he’s weak, however he does struggle some when he has to take on offensive linemen directly. He doesn’t efficiently neutralize opponents’ hands, and he’s slowed significantly when he has to deal with power. He can be knocked off his rushes with relative ease by stronger linemen, and even tight ends can slow him enough to make a difference when they get a square shot at him.

If he can’t develop the ability to more effectively play through the contact, he’ll need to develop his hands to the point where opposing linemen can’t consistently land more than glancing blows.

A related issue is his play in run defense. Carter doesn’t (yet) have the ability to consistently stack and shed blocks, and needs to shoot gaps to be a factor in the running game. His aggressiveness works to his advantage in most cases, however it can also take him out of position if he gives up contain or guesses incorrectly on the direction of the play.

Game Tape

(Carter is the Penn State edge defender wearing number 11. )

Projection

Abdul Carter projects as a starting edge defender with positional and scheme diversity, as well as All Pro upside at the NFL level.

Carter would be an excellent prospect if he was a finished product. However, the fact that he only has one season as a full time edge defender makes him all the more impressive. There are still issues within his game and areas in which he will need to improve.

He needs to get better at dealing with stronger opponents, as well as continue to improve his play in the run game. He’s aggressive attacking the offense and disruptive when he can get into the backfield. But his aggressiveness can work against him if he misdiagnoses a play fake or doesn’t respect contain duties. He still needs to learn how to play off blocks as well as become more efficient with his hand usage.

Carter has the potential to be a truly excellent player once he’s able to fully hone his craft as an edge defender.

Does he fit the Giants?
Yes

Final Word: A Top 10 Talent