Brian Burns, Shane Bowen Hint at Giants' Plans for Abdul Carter
Brian Burns, Shane Bowen Hint at Giants' Plans for Abdul Carter originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The New York Giants, for once, have found a problem they are happy to solve.
Trading for edge rusher Brian Burns ahead of the 2024 season and pairing him with first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux made for an explosive Giants pass rush. Only eight teams finished with more sacks, but general manager Joe Schoen added even more firepower to the unit.
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With the third pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, New York drafted blue-chip edge rusher Abdul Carter, arguably the best player in the class. The result is one of the league's best crops of edge rushers, and combined with defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, one of the most talented units in the sport.
This pass rush is the backbone of the team's hopes. Subsequently, optimizing three players for two spots is going to be defensive coordinator Shane Bowen's most important task this summer.
During minicamp, the Giants hinted at their creative plans to unleash Carter on opposing offenses.
'Ultimately, we want to get our best 11 on the field, whatever way we got to maneuver to do that,' Bowen said, via team transcript. 'We got to find ways to get the guys that can impact the game on the field.
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'So there is some versatility there. With Abdul, he did a little bit of that stuff off the ball in college early in his career, so there is some versatility there and some versatility with what we could potentially do with Burns as well.'
Carter has just a year of experience as a full-time edge rusher, playing off-ball linebacker for much of his Penn State tenure. That skill set earned him comparisons to his predecessor, Dallas Cowboys superstar Micah Parsons.
In the same way that Parsons takes occasional snaps in the box, Carter could see extra playing time. Mugging the A-gap can get him favorable matchups on centers who aren't equipped to take on dynamos off the edge.
More frequently, the Giants seem poised to use Carter (and perhaps both Burns and Thibodeaux) as the defensive tackle next to Lawrence. Used on passing downs, this gives extra potency to potential stunts and gets the team's four best pass rushers on the field at the same time.
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'Yeah, very, I mean, because you could do a lot,' Burns said. 'I mean, we're all similar but different in a way. You know what I'm saying? So, we can interchange and we can really add a lot of versatility to any of our third-down packages or just the game in general. So, yeah, it's exciting.'
The pass-rush synergy that comes with an All-Pro defensive tackle, a Pro Bowler in Burns, and two other first-round picks is hard to fathom and nearly as hard to game plan against. Teams can't double-team all of them, and New York can comfortably send four to generate pressure.
Burns summarized the Giants' surplus aptly.
'It's kind of like pick your poison. And then we have a Dex, so…'
Related: Edge Rusher Rankings Set High Bar for Giants
Related: Carter Reacts to Joining Giants' Loaded Line
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
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