In the 2025 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter with their No. 3 overall pick. With this pick, the Giants arguably landed the best overall talent available in the first round, and certainly the best defenseman in the 2025 NFL Draft class.
Not long after he landed in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and officially joined the team, his journey to select a new jersey number became very public. At first, he asked Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor if he could wear No. 56, which the Giants retired in 1994. Taylor quickly but respectfully denied him and told him to find a new number to make his own and retire someday.
Abdul Carter Shifts Focus to Field After Jersey Decision
“He has to be the player he is,” Taylor told ESPN. “He can’t be another Lawrence Taylor, he may be better than a Lawrence Taylor, who knows? But he has to make his mark. It’s up to him.”
Soon after, Carter asked two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Phil Simms if he could wear No. 11, which Carter wore in his time at Penn State. Simms almost relinquished his retired number, but his own family outvoted him to keep it as such. Now, Carter has found his new number.
Some fans may have seen Carter’s initial tactic of asking for retired numbers when getting picked here as disrespectful, but now we have come to a simple solution, which was brought up by NFL Analyst Kyle Brandt.
Good Morning Football host Kyle Brandt proposed a compromise on Monday for Carter in his quest for an iconic and available number in New York. Brandt suggested Carter take Taylor’s 56 and Simms’ 11 and split the difference—literally. He pulled out a whiteboard and erased the six and one to reveal Carter’s new number: 51.
“51 is available on the Giants’ roster right now, 51 is not retired by the New York Giants, it’s half of LT, it’s half of Simms, it’s a classic linebacker number,” he explained. “The Giants fans will respect it, it’s an old fashioned number, and that will resonate with them and I think [Carter] will make it [his] own.”
It’s a pretty good idea. The Giants can market that choice well, and it sets up an intriguing narrative to follow if his career does, indeed, pan out successfully for the franchise.
KEEP READING: Analyst Bomani Jones Sounds Off on Abdul Carter Requesting To Wear Lawrence Taylor’s New York Giants Number ’56’
Carter selected No. 51 and despite the number having to “grow on him a little bit,” Carter is excited to just “focus on football” and what he was brought to New York to do, be the best edge rusher in the entire NFL.
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