New York Giants rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Giants' OLB Abdul Carter's Matchup with This Rookie Deemed Among Most Exciting

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Stephen Lebitsch | Last updated May 29, 2025 10:00 AM ET

With the New York Giants 2025 schedule release now available, the new slate is getting fans excited for select matchups at both the team and individual levels in the upcoming season.

There are already known zesty rivalries that will be renewed in the NFC East division, as well as games that are laden with the possibility of vindication for one member of the organization. But what about the Giants’ latest class of rookies who will get to embrace and establish themselves in the pros against the opposing rookies they took the stage on draft night with a few weeks ago?

For Giants’ outside linebacker Abdul Carter, his chance to remind everyone why he was among the top prospects taken from his class will come very early this year. In the season opener, New York is traveling to Washington to face off against the Commanders, and all eyes will be watching a potential one-on-one battle develop between two novices with a history that dates back before they donned their franchise hats in Green Bay.

That awaited duel will be between the No. 3 pick and the Commander’s offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr., the 29th overall pick, which Bleacher Report just chose as one of the most exciting rookie matchups in the first eight weeks of the 2025 NFL season in their new analysis.

“In Week 1, the New York Giants will travel to the nation's capital to face the Washington Commanders. One of these teams will leave with a divisional loss and a winless record,” writer Damian Parson said.

“Carter will have to earn his way into the Giants' starting lineup unless they trade Kayvon Thibodeaux this offseason. Regardless, we'll likely see Carter and Conerly lock horns for a second time at some point in this game.”

There are very few things in the league more exciting than watching two great players duke it out in the trenches, fighting to establish leverage on the front lines and impacting the success or failure of the play at hand. It’s what makes Giants fans love their left tackle, Andrew Thomas, who has made himself an indispensable player by locking down the game’s best edge rushers when healthy.

Now, the role will be reversed in terms of who the Giants faithful will be rooting for as Carter spars with Conerly in what will be their second time in the past ten months. The two made themselves familiar in Penn State’s matchup against Oregon in the Big Ten championship game, a 45-37 victory for the Ducks where the impact was not on Carter’s side.

Carter, who earned the second-best PFF pass-rushing grade (92.4) in the nation last fall, was nearly silenced by Conerly in a dance that featured 68 total snaps for the defender and 23 in the pass rush. He registered just four total pressures the entire game and never laid a finger on Oregon’s quarterback for a sack due to the prowess of Conerly, who met his foe’s speed and explosiveness combination.

It marked one of Carter’s worst games of his final season with the Nittany Lions, which collectively tallied 52 pressures, including a third-best 12 sacks, eight hits, and a pass rush win rate of 23.1%. Carter only had six games in 2024 that didn’t pressure the passer in that stretch, and it’s not a result that the Giants want to see repeat itself after they invested their most important draft asset on the outside linebacker.

On the other end of the tussle, Conerly's title performance completed what was one of the most efficient blindside blocking campaigns in the entire FBS level. The First-team All-American scored an 81.9 PFF pass-blocking grade while allowing just five total pressures and one sack in 434 pass-blocking snaps to earn a 99.3% pass-block efficiency rating.

Like the Giants, the Commanders have been in the process of revamping their starting offensive line, and Conerly figures to be an instant piece in that puzzle, pending he wins the right tackle job in camp. Washington went out and recruited All-Pro Laremy Tunsil in a trade with the Texans to fortify the left side of the line. His rookie teammate figures to earn the opposite spot, given that some of the other options on the Commanders’ roster haven't been as promising.

Not only does the opening game between the two historic franchises involve the first chance to steal a divisional victory in a count that will matter significantly in what most people expect to be a very solid division this season. It will also be a key chance for a rematch between Carter and Conerly, who are fighting to become full-time starters and the newest faces of their cities.

Carter doesn’t have the upper hand, given his first duel with Conerly in college, which cost him a national title. His professional debut may be just a regular-season game. Still, it wouldn’t be shocking if Carter enters his first real game as a Giant with the mindset of targeting his opponent’s one weakness, brute strength, and using it to put pressure on the Commanders’ backfield and flip the narrative over to his side.

The expectation has always been for the Giants to start this season with one of the most formidable defensive fronts, featuring four unique pass rushers who can be utilized in a variety of ways. The season-opening road trip to the nation’s capital should offer Carter the shot he desires to be impactful, both because he holds himself to that standard and wants to gain revenge on a familiar foe.

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