Jordan Raanan
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Abdul Carter slid effortlessly down the line of scrimmage during a play at practice last week, forcing quarterback Jaxson Dart to run horizontally and essentially ending the play. It would have been a sack or tackle for loss had it not been in organized team activities in shorts and shoulder pads.
The play by Carter drew quite a reaction. Head coach Brian Daboll clapped his hands and praised the No. 3 pick in this year’s NFL draft for his effort on the play.
This is what the New York Giants need to find: A way to get onto the field. Carter is primarily an outside linebacker in their defensive scheme, a position where they already have Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Considering all three are capable of recording double-digit sacks, it’s a crowded position.
“You got three guys for two spots when you look at it from the outside in,” defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said. “It’s a really good problem to have.”
It’s going to be incumbent on Bowen and Daboll to find a way to make it work. Burns and Thibodeaux already have double-digit-sack seasons on their NFL résumés. Carter is ubertalented and had 12 sacks last season in his first year playing the position at Penn State.
Naturally, there will be a rotation at outside linebacker to make sure all three get playing time and rest. It’s on passing downs where you can expect Bowen to get creative and use all three on the field together.
“You could do a lot,” Burns said. “I mean, we’re all similar but different in a way, you know what I’m saying? So, we can interchange and we can really add a lot of versatility to any of our third-down packages or just the game in general. So yeah, it’s exciting.”
It sounds as if the Giants have plans to move Carter and Burns around a bit, more so than Thibodeaux. Burns said he did a little bit of it last year, so it’s not completely foreign. Still, he had just five pass rush attempts from the defensive tackle spot and one at inside linebacker. That is likely to increase this season.
Using Carter in specific packages at a more traditional inside linebacker spot is the most likely option for Bowen to get all three on the field together. Carter played inside linebacker his first two seasons (amassing 11 sacks total) at Penn State. With the Giants, he’s mixing in there at practices in specific pass-rush situations, but the primary focus remains getting him up to speed with playing outside linebacker at the NFL level.
“There is some versatility there,” Bowen said. “With Abdul, he did a little bit of that stuff off the ball in college early in his career. So there is some versatility there and some versatility with what we could potentially do with Burns as well.
“Again, making sure in Abdul’s case that we understand what it takes to be an edge player in this league and all the development that comes with that. But at the same time, making sure we find ways to get the guys that can potentially impact the game for us on the field.”
This seems to be the best way to make it work with three high-end pass rushers on the roster: Find a way to get snaps for at least one of the three at another position.
The 2022 Dallas Cowboys had Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, Dante Fowler Jr. and Dorance Armstrong all finish with at least six sacks each. Parsons, another Penn State product with whom Carter is often compared, was moved around regularly, while Lawrence and Armstrong sometimes slid inside. Dallas finished tied for third in the league that season with 54 sacks.
The 2019 Jacksonville Jaguars made it work with Calais Campbell, Josh Hines-Allen and Yannick Ngakoue combining for 25 total sacks. But more than half of Campbell’s pass rush snaps that season came from the defensive tackle position.
It’s similar to how the Giants were successful in 2007 with Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. Tuck had 217 pass-rush snaps that season from the interior. In 2011, Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul moved inside regularly as part of a trio that also included Umenyiora.
This year’s Giants don’t necessarily have that type of interior rusher in this group. In his career, Burns has just half a sack from the defensive tackle position. All 21 of Thibodeaux’s sacks have come at outside linebacker as well.
The most recent example of it not working with three natural edge rushers was the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers. They signed Melvin Ingram as a free agent right before training camp to complement T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Ingram was gone after six games (traded to the Kansas City Chiefs) as Highsmith’s snaps increased.
The Giants certainly drafted Carter with his versatility in mind.
“I think when you look at his early tape at Penn State, you can see him playing from stacked alignment. When you have a premium athlete like Abdul, he can rush from a stacked linebacker position, rush over a guard,” assistant general manager Brandon Brown said. “Same thing with Burns. It gives you the versatility to flip-flop. And with [Thibodeaux] to create the best matchup on a week-to-week basis.
“The ability to be multiple was really advantageous for us in terms of evaluating Abdul, actually seeing true application of it. It’s not a hypothetical projection, we’ve seen it.”
The plan seems to be for the Giants to use it to their advantage. It’s their way of making it work this season with Carter, Burns and Thibodeaux on the roster.
All three have publicly made it known they are open to moving around the field. It’s only going to make life difficult for their opponents.
“Very [interested], because it’s going to … challenge offenses to figure out what we’re doing,” Burns said. “And if you can put us in different spots doing the same thing, it’ll be confusing at a certain point.”
And hopefully an effective workaround.
