Abdul Carter
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He didn’t get to wear the number of a legendary New York Giants outside linebacker as a rookie, but Abdul Carter could don the same jersey as another franchise great from Big Blue’s tradition of stellar defense, a two-time Super Bowl winner open to helping the third-overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft make a major change.
Carter is set to change his number and ditch the #51 he wore during a trying and erratic debut season in the pros. The pending change prompted former NFL quarterback Bubby Brister to put a question to Giants icon Carl Banks.
Brister, who spent the 1993 and ’94 seasons with the Giants bitter NFC East rivals the Philadelphia Eagles, put the following question to Banks, “would you bless this?” The question framed an image of Carter wearing the No. 58 Banks made famous during nine stellar seasons with the Giants.
Banks responded to Brister’s question with an emphatic, “Absolutely.”
This immediate assent for Carter taking his number is to Banks’ credit. It’s also a far cry from what Banks’ longtime bookend edge-rusher the great Lawrence Taylor bluntly told Carter about the iconic No. 56 last offseason.
Of course, there are differences between the availability of Banks’ number and Taylor’s stance. Notably, how 58 is available, not retired, after the Giants released its most recent owner.
There would be some nice symmetry if Carter took Banks’ old number, thanks to a pair of similarities between the two.
Carl Banks a Good Template for Abdul Carter
Like Carter, Banks was also a third-overall draft pick. He joined the Giants in 1984, landing in an already star-studded linebacker corps featuring Taylor and fellow future Hall of Famer Harry Carson.
It was a challenging situation for Banks, but he made it work by essentially being the anti-Taylor. While LT served as the terror of quarterbacks, Banks logged a mere 36 sacks in a Giants uniform.
Pressure wasn’t as key to Banks’ game as setting the edge against the run, bodying tight ends and punishing receivers over the middle. He essentially did the dirty, but highly necessary work, while Taylor made the big plays.
It was a shared workload similar to the one Carter finds himself engaged in with the present day Giants.
Giants Need More from Second-Year Game-Wrecker
Carter was originally drafted to exhibit some of the same traits as Taylor, but last season’s prized rookie found himself upstaged. Like Banks, Carter joined a crowded position group featuring fellow top-five pick Kayvon Thibodeaux and two-time Pro Bowler Brian Burns.
The latter reached a third Pro Bowl after amassing 16.5 sacks as the pass-rushing force the Giants hoped Carter would become. Unfortunately, middling on-field production and repeated issues with time-keeping off it, made Carter a symbol of the team’s overall struggles and earned him some harsh words from LT.
The Giants need more from Carter in his second season, and he can deliver by taking inspiration from Banks’ career. Playing a more functional role as a versatile complement to Burns’ pass-rushing prowess would be a good follow-up to taking the same number Banks wore with such distinction.
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