Everybody loves a Penn State hybrid edge linebacker — besides perhaps NFC East offensive linemen.
Micah Parsons has made a case to be acknowledged as the most effective defensive participant within the NFL as a linebacker and edge rusher with the Dallas Cowboys.
There’s nothing NFL groups love greater than replicating each other.
However how comparable are the 2 Nittany Lions?
Abdul Carter is 6-foot-3, 250 kilos — solely 4 greater than his Penn State counterpart. He performs the vast majority of his snaps on the rush linebacker place, however is ready to drop all the way down to play stand-up edge or drop again into protection if vital, due to spectacular athletic chops. Parsons and Carter share the identical go off the sting, tracing to their linebacker background.
They will explode in any route and preserve the pure fluidity to shut and stuff the stat sheet with sacks.
Perhaps this can be a sizzling take, however I’d somewhat have my edge rushers come from a linebacker background than a defensive deal with background ( you, Shemar Stewart).
There’s nothing incorrect with having immense pure energy in your recreation, however energy might be constructed. It’s tougher to realize velocity and burst when you aren’t ranging from a robust ground. It’s a part of what makes Parsons constantly profitable. He outclasses each offensive lineman athletically and will lap a few of them in a monitor meet.
Carter shares that very same explosiveness and agility, and his angles to pursue the quarterback are tight and exact.
Penn State go rushers have usually been technically sound. Even guys like Arnold Ebiketie — who just isn’t fairly of Parsons’ and Carter’s caliber — have made names for themselves primarily based on technical refinement and a bag of pass-rush strikes.
Carter has that in spades. Beginning with a very soiled spin transfer that leaves tackles dizzy and infrequently on the bottom, he makes use of a fast chop and bend off the nook. Penn State coach James Franklin emphasizes agility and technical refinement along with his edge rushers, which predates Parsons. Take into consideration Shaka Toney — whereas not a prime NFL participant — whose edge dashing capacity on the faculty degree was derived virtually fully from lateral motion. That’s what you’re getting with a Penn State edge man.
Carter makes a case for the most effective defensive participant within the class. His spectacular athleticism and polished technical abilities make for a whole edge rusher prospect who nonetheless has a wide-open ceiling. Is he the following Micah Parsons? I’m unsure how a lot Carter would recognize me placing him in a Nittany Lion–formed field, however he might very nicely be the following star of a protection in the way in which Parsons is for the Cowboys. They play equally and helped flip the Nittany Lions’ protection right into a drive of nature.
Carter deserves the excessive draft choose he’ll doubtless garner, and we are able to count on to see him stacking sacks for years to return.
