G-men pick Carter at No. 3, will keep Thibodeaux

A team long built on the strength of its defense, the New York Giants weren't going to pass on the opportunity to add to their pass rush.

The Giants selected Penn State star Abdul Carter with the third overall pick in the NFL draft Thursday night.

Moments after selecting Carter, Giants general manager Joe Schoen announced that New York is going to exercise defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux's fifth-year option, ending speculation that the former first-round pick could be on the move via a trade.

"Kayvon is going to be here. ... You can't have enough pass rushers," Schoen said.

Carter joins a defensive front that includes Thibodeaux, Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Bobby Okereke. He was the Giants' choice after quarterback Cam Ward went No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars selected two-way star Travis Hunter with the second pick after completing a trade with the Cleveland Browns.

The Giants couldn't pass on Carter, who was rated by some teams as the top player in this draft. Carter fits the bill as the kind of blue-chip or generational prospect that Schoen recently said "you don't pass on."

Now, the strength of New York's roster got even stronger. The Giants traded for Burns last offseason and selected Thibodeaux fifth overall in the 2022 draft. Both edge rushers have a double-digit sack season on their resumes.

Carter had 12 sacks last season in his first year playing off the edge at Penn State. He played the previous two seasons at off-ball linebacker and could be deployed in a way similar to how the Dallas Cowboys use star pass rusher Micah Parsons.

The selection sets up the Giants to more closely resemble the glory years' teams of the past. All four of their Super Bowl winners were built around defense, specifically a ferocious and deep pass rush.

Carter visited the Giants in the weeks leading up to the draft and posted a picture of Big Blue legend Lawrence Taylor that he saw at the team's facility. Taylor is among the Giants legends at the position, along with Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul.

That now falls on Carter, a unanimous All-American and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year who has drawn comparisons to All-Pro edge rusher Von Miller with his explosiveness off the edge. Carter led all of FBS last season with a 19.6% pressure rate off the edge.