The New York Giants are leaning on their young core to emerge from the NFC East basement, the charge being led by first-round picks like Jaxson Dart, Abdul Carter, and Malik Nabers.Carter has become a popular breakout pick this offseason, but according to Nick Shook of NFL.com, he's already among the league's best edge defenders. Shook included Carter as one of the two edge defenders in his "All-Under-25" team. Pittsburgh Steelers defender Nick Herbig, two years Carter's senior, took the other spot. No other Giants players made the cut.Shook said, "Carter arrived with great expectations as a top-three pick and attracted attention for his winding journey toward selecting a jersey number, then seemed to fly under the national radar throughout most of his rookie season. “Those paying closer attention, however, understood that Carter had a strong debut campaign.”Giants' Abdul Carter is One of the NFL's Best Young Edge DefendersNew York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter | USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectCarter hasn't lived up to his pre-draft billing yet. Before he was drafted, NFL draft expert Lance Zierlein said, "Carter has the urgency and athletic talent to bombard the stat sheet."Carter's stats have been somewhat disappointing. He produced just four sacks and 43 total tackles in 843 defensive snaps as a rookie.Advanced stats paint a more encouraging picture, though. Carter logged 66 pressures, leading all rookies. His pass-rush win rate of 20.9% on true pass sets was the highest of any rookie with at least 200 pass-rushing snaps.Per PFF, Carter only converted 6% of his pressures into sacks in 2025. His teammate, Brian Burns, converted 31% of his pressures into sacks and led the NFC in sacks. With that kind of efficiency, Carter would have had 20.5 sacks as a rookie.A slight bump in converting pressures to sacks would make Carter's overall production much stronger. His raw stats may not have been eye-popping last season, but Carter could easily become a perennial double-digit sack player for the Giants.Carter is already off to a strong start for the Giants this summer, having shown an ability to be disruptive in the offensive backfield. If he can consistently deliver that level of performance, big things await the former Penn State star.At just 22 years old, Carter has plenty of time to develop into the superstar pass rusher fans hoped to see when he was drafted. He hasn't cracked the upper echelon of NFL edge defenders yet, but his ranking as one of the top two players at his position under the age of 25 is encouraging for his future.Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news, and send your mailbag questions to us.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow