Outside Linebacker · New York Giants

Abdul Carter

No. 3 · 2nd season

Benched twice, finished fifth, and already aiming at the top

Most rookies are happy to survive the first year. Abdul Carter is not thinking about surviving.

Carter came in as an outside linebacker for the New York Giants — the player who rushes from the edge and makes quarterbacks uncomfortable. His first season was not smooth. He was benched twice. That is not a footnote; that is a real signal that something had to change. And yet, by the time the year was over, Carter had four sacks and enough of an impression on the league to finish fifth in voting for Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Fifth in the country. In a year that included two benchings.

His stated goal now is Defensive Player of the Year — the award given to the best defensive player in the entire league, veterans included. He is not hedging.

That kind of gap between where a player sits and where they want to go is either a warning sign or the beginning of something. Carter seems to have already decided which one it is. The rest of us get to watch.

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