Overview

Position: EDGE

College: Penn State

Class: Junior

Age: 21

 

Measurables

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 252 lbs.

Arm length: N/A

Hand size: N/A

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: N/A

10-yard split: N/A

Vertical jump: N/A

Broad jump: N/A

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Elite first-step quickness. Very twitchy and explosive. Exceptional strength at his size. Extreme athleticism. Top-tier speed for an edge defender. Rare change-of-direction skills and overall agility. Excellent fluidity and bend. Outstanding balance to keep his feet. Will put a hand in the ground to balance himself turning the corner. Tremendous hand usage on speed rushes. Uses both an outside and inside rip move. Great slap move. Shows impressive strength on power rushes. Flashed an extremely powerful bull rush versus Boise State (2024). Quick inside move. Very tight spin move. Times the snap to get an even earlier start. Excellent taking down the quarterback when he gets home. Fast but controlled in pursuit. Tracks down quarterbacks that attempt to escape the pocket. Finishes with violence. Gets into the backfield in a flash with a clear path. Used as both a stand-up rusher and with one or two hands in the dirt. Lined up extremely wide at times. Has experience standing up to rush over the A-gap. Saw snaps rushing from the interior. Physical taking on blocks. Crashes with aggression to play the run. Strong into traffic in an effort to blow things up. Very effective side stepping blockers. Very versatile as a former off-ball linebacker. Comfortable dropping in coverage. Extremely smooth moving in space. Tremendous speed in the side shuffle. Reads the quarterback’s eyes as a zone defender. Has the skillset to be a great quarterback spy. Played through a shoulder injury in the College Football Playoff.

 

Weaknesses

Could expand/improve his rush counters. Has some reps where he stalls out and stops his rush (mainly from the interior). Can get attached to blocks in the running game. Not as effective as a run defender if unable to be the aggressor. Play recognition appears average at times. Positioning could be improved versus pullers and cross-formation blocks. Attacked some by Ohio State’s pro-style rushing attack under Chip Kelly (2024). Recovering from a stress fracture in his foot.

 

NFL comparison

Micah Parsons

 

Conclusion

Overall, Carter is a game-wrecking defender that has all the tools to instantly be one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers. He is at his best on the edge and is an ascending player with just one full season at the position, but Carter also brings versatility based on his linebacker experience and complete skillset.

 

Big Board ranking: #5 | Positional ranking: #2