The way New York Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was talking up rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter on Thursday, one would think that Big Blue has its next franchise defensive game-changer to put with the likes of Lawrence Taylor or Michael Strahan.
“You see the explosiveness obviously rushing the passer,” Bowen said on Thursday ahead of the Giants’ season opener on Sunday against the Commanders down in Landover. “He’s a really good athlete, too. He can bend, the flexibility, everything that comes with it, which we’ve all seen from Penn State.”
Drafted No. 3 overall, Carter was considered by many to be the best overall athlete available and one who can turn a game on its head in an instant. Flashes of that were seen during the preseason. He lined up on either edge, made opposing offensive lines look like Swiss cheese with an arsenal of powerful, seemingly unstoppable moves.
Now that the regular season is here, there is no snap count. There is no limit to his time to just a series or two.
“I think there’s a violence to him,” Bowen continued. “Like the explosiveness comes out in that form too, which is probably a little bit more than what I was expecting, to be honest. He’s done everything we’ve asked of him, continues to try to improve, continues to practice hard. So excited about him. Excited to see him out there Sunday.”
His first assignment, though, is a difficult one. He’ll be lining up opposite a Commanders team that made it to the NFC Championship Game last season and has one of the game’s best young and elusive quarterbacks in Jayden Daniels.
This simply isn’t opening the gate and letting the pass rush, which also boasts Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns, loose.
“We’ve got to be able to rush the guy, but we’ve got to make sure we’re coordinated, we’re all on the same page, we’re executing and not leaving big creases, easy edges for [Daniels] where he can just take off and get vertical on us,” Bowen said. “That’s the biggest thing. When he has the lane and can get vertical, he’s a tough tackle in space, tough to bring down with just one guy. So I think it just goes back to our rush coordination, making sure we’re coordinated, understanding how the guy next to me is rushing, how it all ties together where we can hopefully minimize and shrink some of those windows.
“Like, you rush four. There’s six gaps, right? Just by a number count, there’s going to be a couple of places where he can escape if he needs to. We just have to make sure we do a good job of constricting those spaces where it’s not inviting for him.”
