Before the season began, Adbul Carter told Micah Parsons he wanted to be the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. That pledge could be fulfilled in two months.

"He took me under his wing," Carter said about his fellow Penn State product. "We trained together, worked together, and everything turned out good so far."

While Parsons was taken 12^th overall by the Cowboys and still became a perennial Pro Bowler, Carter made it clear that No. 1 is on his mind.

"I feel like it's very realistic," Carter told the media gathered at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "I feel like I'm the best player in the country, and the best player should be selected No. 1."

Supply and demand for quarterbacks might prove otherwise. The Titans hold the first pick, followed by the Browns and Giants.

"We're going to be open to anything," Giants general manager Joe Schoen said at the Senior Bowl. "We're in a good position sitting at three with the players that are available. By process of elimination, we know we're going to get a good player. Regardless of what happens the next couple of months, we know there's going to be a really good player there."

Carter certainly fits that bill.

He finished sixth in Penn State history in sacks, eighth in tackles for loss, and tied for 12th in forced fumbles. In 2024, he became the Nittany Lions' 15^th unanimous All-American and was selected as the Nagurski-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the Smith-Brown Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year.

Carter's college career ended in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Orange Bowl. While gutting through a shoulder injury, he posted five tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and pass breakup. If there's one game he wants NFL teams to turn on, it's that one.

"I feel like I left it all out there," Carter said. "Just got one more opportunity to play with my brothers that I've been playing with the last three years. Just really summed up my whole time at Penn State, and I got to leave it all out on the field."

Carter will not work out at the combine, but he has been cleared.

"I'm really just starting to heat it up right now," Carter said. "I just got cleared and really started training, started working out again. So, my next goal is me getting right, me getting ready for my pro day, and once I get to my pro day, to perform at an elite level."

Carter added: "I'm probably about 90 percent right now, but these next couple months, this next month, I feel like it's really going to start getting close to 100."

Then he can remind everyone that having a franchise defender is just as important as having a franchise quarterback.

"I feel like you definitely need a franchise edge rusher," Carter said. "If you look at all the great teams, all the great teams that won Super Bowls, you have that one standout great defensive player. And I feel like I'm that."

Carter is looking to become the next Penn State edge rusher to be selected in the first round, joining recent picks like Chop Robinson, Odafe Oweh, and Parsons, whom Giants fans know all about.

"I definitely tried to model my game after Micah, just watching him being at the same school," Carter said. "I've been watching him pretty much my whole career. Von Miller is also another guy I like to study a lot, and T.J. Watt."

Like Parsons, Carter made the move from off-ball linebacker to edge rusher.

"It was the decision that I made," Carter said. "I went to my coaches, had a talk with them. I just knew that my best ability was getting after the quarterback. I knew I'd be most impactful for the team and really be impactful for me knowing what I do best is getting after the quarterback."

Then maybe the Giants, if they draft him, could return the favor by unleashing Carter on the Cowboys.