New Giants move rusher Abdul Carter mentioned Thursday evening that he want to put on Lawrence Taylor’s retired No. 56.
Cowboys move rusher Micah Parsons, Carter’s Penn State predecessor, requested Carter on Bleacher Report‘s NFL Draft present if he needed to put on No. 11 — which each gamers wore at Penn State and Parsons nonetheless wears in Dallas.
“I don’t know. I got a different number in mind,” Carter mentioned. “Fifty-six sounds real good, but we’re gonna have a conversation.”
Carter then implied on Friday afternoon that he was speaking to the Giants about his choices. He was requested about “a couple of numbers that are already retired that you would probably be eyeing”: Phil Simms’ retired No. 11 and Taylor’s No. 56.
“We’re still in the process of that, but we’ll see what happens,” Carter mentioned in his first official go to to the crew’s New Jersey facility as a Large.
So which quantity would he desire?
“We’re see what happens,” he repeated.
The Giants set the precedent of unretiring numbers when the late Ray Flaherty’s household gave Malik Nabers permission to be the primary Large to put on No. 1 since 1935.
Taylor, nevertheless, is taken into account by many to be the perfect participant in NFL historical past. And Simms is an iconic two-time Tremendous Bowl successful Giants quarterback.
Unretiring both quantity can be controversial and, frankly, gorgeous — to not point out how a lot additional strain it might placed on Carter to carry out at an elite degree instantly.
Carter clarified that he “just want[s] to follow in [Taylor’s] footsteps” — not be him.
“He’s the greatest football of all time, somebody I look up to,” he mentioned. “I just want to chase greatness, and knowing that he was the best, that’s what I want to chase. But I didn’t say it like, ‘I want to be better than Lawrence Taylor.’ That’s more me looking up to him, inspired to be like him.”
For what it’s price, new Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart vouched on Friday for Carter as a particular expertise.
Dart and Ole Miss beat Carter’s Nittany Lions soundly, 38-25, within the 2023 Peach Bowl. However Dart distinctly remembers one Carter play that opened his eyes.
“He doesn’t really have a weakness. He can do it all,” Dart mentioned of Carter. “He’s so versatile. I performed him when he was enjoying within the field on the linebacker place, and the way he was capable of disrupt the sport from that.
“I still remember a play we had on short yardage where he chased from the end of the line of scrimmage all the way back to the other side of the field and almost made a tackle on a running back for a loss,” he added. “[He] actually stopped him before he got to the first down…. Not many people on this Earth can make a play like that.”
Carter additionally had a strip sack of Dart in that sport that was overturned to an incomplete move.
Dart nonetheless threw for 379 yards and three touchdowns within the win, nevertheless. So he earned Carter’s respect within the course of, too.
“I’m a big fan of Jaxson,” he mentioned. “Just seeing how accurate he was dishing the ball out, I knew he was a good quarterback. It was a great pickup… He’s tough… If you beat Penn State in a big game like that, I know you’re the real deal, especially at quarterback.”
Dart is thought for having a powerful pocket presence and holding performs alive. Carter mentioned he can vouch for that.
“That’s definitely a toughness attribute,” he mentioned. “When we were playing, I landed a really good shot on him, and he got right back up and dusted off like nothing happened.”
The mutual respect between the Giants’ two first-round picks was apparent. Now the query is whether or not the Giants have a excessive sufficient opinion of Carter to award him the variety of the perfect participant of their franchise historical past.
