NFL Draft
11/17/24
7 min read
Abdul Carter 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Penn State Nittany Lions LB
Height: 6030 (unofficial)
Weight: 252 (unofficial)
Year: Junior
Pro Comparison: Will Anderson
Scouting Overview
Penn State Nittany Lions linebacker Abdul Carter is one of the most fascinating prospects eligible for the 2025 NFL Draft. Carter has electric traits as a pass rusher and a different gear on the edge that will allow him to threaten pass rush sets with dynamic speed or explosive power.
He’s a standout disruption talent who has provided ample optimism amid his transition to playing full-time on the edge after several years at stack linebacker. He’s got the violent hands, flexibility, and twitch necessary to find an early role at the pro level. However, he likely needs an implementation and development plan to ensure he lives up to the rare multifaceted talent he’s capable of becoming.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Absolutely electric second gear as a pass rusher will explode out of a hesitation rush to turn the corner or develop power
- Versatility upside is obvious, and has the potential to serve as a true position-fluid player week by week
- Offers good body control and agility in close quarters to collect, corner, and rally to the football
Negatives
- Run-defending skills are generally behind his abilities as a pass rusher — both off the ball and on the edge
- Sorely lacking in block deconstruction and identification skills, which could be a barrier to early playing time outside of long & late downs
- Should not be considered a universal prospect; he’s not dummy-proof, and unimaginative and disorganized defensive schemes could fail his NFL development
Background
Carter is from Philadelphia, PA, and played his high school football for La Salle College HS. As a prep recruit, Carter earned a 4-star recruiting ranking (247 Sports) as a two-time All-State selection. Carter also participated in the Big 33 Classic before enrolling at Penn State as the latest in the Nittany Lions’ proud lineage of talented linebackers. Carter chose PSU over South Carolina, LSU, Kentucky, Michigan, USC, and others.
As a true freshman, Carter suited up for 13 games and started in six of them — posting 6.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss during the 2022 season. Those marks were among the best in the country for true freshman defenders. Carter’s passing down production did not grow as a sophomore despite assuming a full-time starting role on the Nittany Lions defense. Still, his role expanded and allowed him to collect First-Team All-Big Ten honors for his efforts in 2023.
Carter undertook a positional transition ahead of the 2024 season, transitioning from an off-ball hybrid linebacker to a more permanent edge presence to rush the passer on the line of scrimmage. After a slow first month of the season, Carter’s presence rushing the passer exploded as Penn State reached conference play, and he has lived up to his reputation as a player with supreme pass-rushing potential.
Tale Of The Tape
Carter has the potential to be a terror of a pass rusher on the edge. This is a smooth, effortless mover with explosive qualities and violent finishing capabilities. Carter’s versatility is apparent upon reviewing his college tape, adding exciting appeal to the prospect of what he could someday be at the pro level — but it is worth noting that life in the NFL in such roles would be dramatically different and also harder to replicate. And it is that which makes Carter such a compelling draft profile.
The case for drafting Carter lies in his value in the passing game. He’s a former stack linebacker who now lives on the edge, and in both roles, he’s proven to have a killer instinct for rushing the quarterback. Whether he’s pressing interior gaps from a mugged-up alignment or attacking off the edge, Carter possesses the short-area acceleration to win real estate and leverage on blocks.
Carter’s rushes are turbocharged. His instant acceleration in second reaction movements presents a high degree of difficulty for blockers and might be his best overall quality. He has a variety of hand counters on the edge, and this element of his game is unfolding before our very eyes.
Carter’s primary winner off the edge is a rip-and-dip combination paired with speed, but he can also flash across the face and has shown some viability with an inside spin counter as well. He is more of a body positioning and angles rusher than a technical rusher, as you’d expect for someone who was used to pressuring interior gaps prior to this season. The seamless way he’s adjusted to a different launch point and landmark sets a floor as a rush specialist.
However, the work on early downs currently presents a developmental curve that pro teams must be comfortable with. Carter was not a consistent run defender while working off the ball at Penn State, nor has he played enough to have the needed point-of-attack consistency in the run game while working on the edge.
As a stack backer, Carter played most consistently as a scrape player despite having the ideal build of a fill player. His eagerness to drive and trigger gaps against the run was hit or miss, and when he did, his fill angles and negotiation of blocks had room for improvement. His play processing of the run and play-action pass in these opportunities did not illustrate a ready-made NFL player.
In 2024, on the edge, Carter created negative players with his first-step quickness, but teams willing to run volume at him in the run game with tight ends or pullers can create creases as he struggles to leverage his gap.
The hand power and length to be impactful in this phase of the game are present in his game but not anywhere consistent enough to be a reliable down-by-down defender. He loses pad level and leverage when unblocked initially at the point, providing a large surface area for blockers to attach to. His anchor, when pressed with horizontal contact, is irregular, and pullers, lead blockers, or double teams, as a result, can gouge him.
Ancillary roles for Carter could include some zone drops in simulated pressure packages. He’s been charged with playing in space during his early seasons. While the tackling and instincts moving backward don’t provide a future full-time pathway, he’s athletic enough and well enough versed in dropping to effectively reach a hook landmark and take away a hot throw based on a pressure look.
The challenge is going to be finding a home for him on running downs. Carter’s assimilation to a defense is likely to be a gradual one but considering how fresh he is in his current role, there’s little reason to doubt he cannot unlock these phases of his game.
He’s got the physical attributes to do it all — it is more a matter of developing a feel for run combinations and block-shedding reflexes in linear hand-to-hand combat.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Carter projects best as a designated pass rusher early in his career. With his stature and frame, he will be best served living on the edge at the next level. His rushing instincts are obvious and should yield wonderful results, even early on, making him an obvious candidate for a designated pass rusher.
His full-time role on early downs must be earned with more development in block deconstruction, point-of-attack leveraging, and play diagnosis. Penetration schemes can lean more into his athletic profile and charge him with creating havoc in the backfield.
Grade: 83.50/100.00, First Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
