As it turns out, this was an easy decision for the Giants.
They sat back, secure in the knowledge that with the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft they could stay true to their value board and take a player coveted up and down the league.
The search for their future franchise quarterback will have to wait, as Thursday night the Giants did the expected with the prudent selection of edge rusher Abdul Carter.
The top of the draft went as expected, with the Titans taking quarterback Cam Ward and the Browns taking cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter.
With quarterback Shedeur Sanders on the board, the Giants went with Carter.
Four years ago, the Giants in the first round of the 2021 draft passed on Micah Parsons, an edge rusher from Penn State, trading down instead of taking him.
That turned out to be an enormous mistake, given how Parsons has flourished with the Cowboys.
This new Giants regime did not make a similar mistake.
Even though the position Carter plays is not a glaring need — Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux are the returning starters — Carter was impossible to pass up.
Lest we forget, the two most recent Super Bowls won by the Giants featured a ferocious defensive front, anchored by edge rushers Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck in 2007 and, four years later, by Tuck, Umenyiora, Jason Pierre Paul and Mathias Kiwanuka in what was dubbed the NASCAR package.
Now it is up to defensive coordinator Shane Bowen to incorporate the talents of Burns, Thibodeaux, Carter and nose tackle Dexter Lawrence to recapture that past success.
“As a unique player like him that played off the ball for two years and has only played one season off the edge and had a really good season,’’ Giants general manager Joe Schoen said last week, when analyzing Carter as a prospect. “You’ve got Kayvon, and you’ve got Burns, you’ve got Dex inside. It gives you a lot of options. He’s a versatile player … an exciting player to watch. Yeah, you can’t have enough pass rushers.’’
At 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, Carter in 2024 had 12 sacks and an FBS-leading 23.5 sacks and there are teams in the NFL that ranked him as the No. 1 overall prospect in the draft.
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“I feel like I’m the best player in the country, and the best player should be selected No. 1,” Carter said.
That did not happen, but Carter came close.
The Philadelphia native is young (21) and confident.
He was more of a traditional inside linebacker until he moved to the edge in 2024, a position change that catapulted his rise up the draft charts.
“That’s another reason why I feel like I’m the best player in the country. Just me being in my first year at a new position, I feel like nobody’s really done this before at this level,” Carter said. “Coming in at a new position and being a first-team unanimous All-American, dominating the way I did, having an impact on the game like I did.”
Where Carter might fit in with the Giants was a discussion at the NFL scouting combine in late February.
Would he rather go to an NFL team bereft of star power at the edge rusher spot or join a defense that has veterans such as Burns and Thibodeaux?
“Yeah, my goal is to come in and be the guy,’’ Carter said. “If I go to a team that’s already got established [guys], I want to earn my spot anyway, so I want to come in and compete right away.’’
Carter said he modeled his game after Parsons — “Just watching him being at the same school, I’ve been watching him pretty much my whole career’’ — and studies Von Miller and T.J. Watt.
If Carter approaches the level of performance of those players, the Giants will be thrilled with this pick.