When the Chiefs and Eagles were busy in their Super Bowl, the rest were thinking about the no. 11 jersey of Penn State. Abdul Carter, arguably the best edge rusher in the upcoming draft, could be the no. 1 pick of the year. However, it depends on how the Titans treat him. But being a great player with a very good burst off the line of scrimmage, no team would like to skip him in the 2025 Draft (until it’s some kind of compulsion). Also, who would like to leave a player with Micah Parsons’s similarity? Yes! That’s what many including Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikkema thinks. Why? He revealed the reason!
In a new episode of The Rich Eisen Show, Trevor Sikkema joined the host to talk about Abdul Carter and him likely being the no. 1 pick. During the same discussion, Eisen also took the opportunity to ask why the analyst thinks Carter is similar to Micah Parsons a lot. Same school, same number, same playstyle – all reveals that DE is very much similar to the Cowboys’s linebacker. But wait, there’s more to that!
Pro Football Focus analyst expressed, “I think the build does as well. It’s not just that the guy plays the same position or he’s coming from the same school or whatever they’re built very similarly, they have similar height (6’3”), they have similar weight profiles (251 lbs of Carter and 247 lbs of Parsons), they have similar length profiles when it comes to their arm length and they win in a lot of the same ways.” Sikkema doesn’t make high-level pro comparisons often, knowing how difficult the college-to-NFL transition can be. But watching Abdul Carter dominate, especially in big moments, it’s hard for him not to see his similarities.
Besides that, Sikkema further addressed that their career paths mirror each other. Micah Parsons started as an off-ball linebacker before moving to Edge – just like Abdul Carter. And now he is coming off an impressive 2024 season, winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He completed the season with 24 tackles for loss and 12 sacks in 16 games. All these makes him one of the top prospects of the year, especially his Parsons’s like-aura.
But the question is Travis Hunter is also looked up as the potential top prospect of the year. So, will Carter find his way out at no. 1?
Here’s why Trevor Sikkema thinks Abdul Carter will be at no. 1 projection!
On the same segment, Trevor Sikkema makes it clear – he has Travis Hunter as his top player in the class. But when it comes to the No. 1 overall pick, teams often lean toward strengthening the trenches. That’s why he sees Abdul Carter as a perfect fit for the Titans, a team desperate for defensive firepower. He expressed, “It’s really splitting hairs between these two guys however when you talk about a guy that you’re drafting number one overall a lot of times you do just lean the trenches and when I look at the Tennessee Titans, they are a team that needs more juice on the defensive line.” Hence, Carter is his top pick.
In addition, the analyst thinks pairing him with Jeffrey Simmons and others could give Tennessee a much-needed boost after finishing with the worst record last season (3-14). Of course, the quarterback needs to factor into the decision, depending on how free agency plays out. But Sikkema believes Abdul Carter is about to prove himself at the combine. No matter what drills he participates in, his athleticism will be undeniable. And when you have the chance to draft a player with even a fraction of Parsons’s ability, it’s hard to pass that up. So, let’s see what happens next for the young man. Until then, he is lucky to get a shoutout from Parsons himself.
This happened when Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Georgia’s Jalon Walker – both wearing the no. 11 jerseys like Parsons – were named as top prospects for the NFL Draft. Hence, praising them both, Cowboys’s star wrote, “Them 11s is the best players in football!! #facts!” His tweet was enough to hint how much Parsons is excited and happy to see these young athletes becoming this year’s NFL draft’s favorites.
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