How a position switch made Penn State's Abdul Carter a potential No. 1 pick
Six months ago, Abdul Carter began playing somewhat of a foreign full-time defensive end position. Now, he's being regarded as the best player in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Abdul Carter exploded off the edge with a wicked-fast first step and found himself quickly approaching quarterback Drew Allar. In a subsequent play, he teleported there again. And then a couple more times.
Of course, this was during Penn State’s Blue-White game back in April, which also gave the first look at Carter playing his new position.
When reports surfaced in April that Carter would be transitioning from an off-ball linebacker to a full-time defensive end, it became front-page news in college football and the NFL draft community.
It was a surprising move, albeit one that made sense. In two seasons as a linebacker, Carter excelled. He recorded 11 sacks, 104 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hurries, and three forced fumbles. However, Penn State was losing Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac, two highly-productive defensive ends that accounted for 44.5 tackles for loss the prior two seasons. Both had declared for the 2024 NFL Draft — Robinson, a first-round pick and Isaac, a second-round pick.
In his first year filling their shoes, Carter had over half of their production.
Carter accumulated 12 sacks, 23.5 tackles for loss, and a constellation of pressures. Despite the narrow loss, his best game of the season came in his three-sack performance against Ohio State. His previous displays of quarterback harassment from the second level had merely scratched the surface compared to what he could do as a full-time edge rusher.
The transition from linebacker to defensive end allowed us to see Carter’s freak-like abilities. In this instance, “freak” is an endearing description. At 6-foot-3, 252 pounds, he’s quick-twitched and violent with incredible burst and change of direction skills — skills the most dominant edge rushers in the NFL possess. At times during this past season, he was utterly untouchable; he got off the line of scrimmage so quickly that in the blink of an eye, the opposing tackle or guard he’d just screamed past was looking back in bewilderment.
Penn State got creative with Carter, which also showed NFL scouts his versatility. According to PFF, Carter lined up six times in the B gap, nine over tackle, 627 outside tackle, and 92 off-ball, which he had been accustomed to from his days at linebacker.
After Carter’s dominant season, inevitable parallels to former Nittany Lion Micah Parsons emerged. Parsons is widely considered one of the NFL’s best edge rushers. Undoubtedly, both wearing No. 11 has something to do with it — a number that has become synonymous with greatness in Penn State’s football program — but Parsons, like Carter, began as a linebacker and transitioned to defensive end. At least that was Penn State’s plan for Parsons, who opted out of the 2020 season due to the pandemic. With a season’s worth of tape at defensive end, it’s fair to wonder whether Parsons, the No. 12 pick, would have been selected higher.
Common knowledge in the NFL is that if you have players who can get to the quarterback, the likelihood of winning football games is higher. In turn, there is a higher chance of reaching the crux of the NFL season: the Super Bowl. Because of that, pass-rushers are highly valued. Not only is high draft capital often expended on the position, but money is too. Edge rushers are the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the NFL. The highest-paid right now, San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa, signed a five-year, $170 million extension last season.
In an era where the NFL is placing a premium on edge rushers, Carter's emergence couldn't be more perfectly timed. Amidst the maelstrom of draft speculation, he now finds himself in the conversation to be the first-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
After a 3-14 season, the Tennessee Titans hold the first pick. While they desperately need a quarterback, newly-minted general manager Mike Borgonzi said in his debut press conference, “We won’t pass on a generational talent with the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.”
To me, that signals two players: Carter or Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winning WR/CB from Colorado. Most will think it’s the latter, but I believe it’s the former. Hunter, the two-way phenom, most certainly could go No. 1 and not many would bat an eye. But what he’ll play in the NFL is still a mystery: will he be primarily be a cornerback and have packages at wide receiver, or will he be a wide receiver and moonlight on defense?
With Carter, you’re getting a certainty — a bonified disruptor whose potential at edge rusher is through the roof.