Abdul Carter on why he should go No. 1 overall in 2025 NFL Draft: ‘I step up when I’m needed the most’

With the 2025 NFL Draft approaching, players are meeting with teams, working out at pro days and taking interviews with squads they may join in just a few weeks. Some players go into draft night hoping to be drafted by a specific team, others are hoping to go in the first round, while a select few are aiming to be called to the stage first.

For Abdul Carter, going No. 1 overall is something he has vocalized is very important to him, calling it the “ultimate goal.” The edge rusher out Penn State has emphasized that he believes he is the best prospect this year, saying the best player should go first overall. 

Carter, who attended, but did not participate in drills at Penn State’s Pro Day, continued his campaign for going No. 1 overall.

“I think just my overall impact on the game,” Carter said, discussing why he should be the first name Roger Goodell calls. “My versatility. I can play multiple positions, and I feel like most importantly I step up when I’m needed the most when crunch time comes around. When you need somebody to make that big play, I feel like I’m the guy who makes that big play.”

He continued, saying it’s not just the impact he personally has on the field, but he also helps elevate others on the team.

“At the end of the day, I make people around me better, just take them on double-teams bringing extra attention to me, freeing up somebody else so they can make the play and just my overall impact on the game,” Carter said.

The Tennessee Titans currently hold the first pick and if they don’t select Carter, he’ll be using it as fuel for his rookie year.

“Everything happens for a reason. If I don’t go number one, it wasn’t meant to be. But I’m also going to have that motivation. If they don’t select me, that’s motivation,” he said.

One CBS Sports mock draft has Carter going at No. 1,  but many have him going No. 2 to the Cleveland Browns, who currently hold the second pick. Many predict a quarterback will go first overall, but Carter is not buying all the QB talk. He says the best defensive players can go toe-to-toe with what quarterbacks bring to a team.

“Those great defensive players, you look in the history, they can impact the game just as much as a quarterback,” Carter said. “There’s been defensive players who’ve taken over a game right at the end of Super Bowl in those playoffs scenes where you really need that great defensive player and he also makes people around him better. So I feel like just saying that, seeing how defensive players can take over a game, we’re just like a quarterback.”

Carter is not participating in his Penn State’s Pro Day as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury he suffered late last season, but he did attend the event. The 21-year-old said he opted out of the workout because he wanted to make “the best possible decision for me and in my best interests.”

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“Still recovering from my shoulder, pretty much a hundred percent now. But knowing that I had the best training to come out here, and I didn’t. So had to make the best decision for me.”

During NFL Scouting Combine medical testing, it was revealed that Carter had a stress fracture in his right foot. He decided not to have surgery on the area and was recently cleared to go back to training. 

“I found out when they found out about it,” the 2024 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year said, discussing the stress fracture. “I never had no symptoms, no pain. Doesn’t bother me now. It didn’t bother me during the season. So whatever they feel necessary for it, I don’t feel any pain right now. No surgery or nothing like that.”

Last season, he had 12.0 sacks, 24 tackles for a loss four passes defended and two forced fumbles in 16 games.