NFL Draft prospects have largely decided that they prefer their home turf, so much of the athletic testing in the lead-up to the 2025 draft in Green Bay this April, has occurred at the team’s Pro Days. That’s the case for many of Penn State’s top prospects, but those souts in Happy Valley on Friday to see potential No. 1 overall pick Abdul Carter were disappointed.
Carter had not planned to work out at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis coming off of the shoulder injury that he suffered in the Nittany Lion’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal win over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Then, during his physical, a stress fracture was discovered in his foot, further delaying his return to football activities and clouding his pre-draft status.
Carter managed to avoid surgery for the stress fracture but just a day before Penn State’s Pro Day, when the star defensive end and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year finally planned to showcase his athleticism, his agent Drew Rosenhaus announced that Carter would not work out.
Rosenhaus informed ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Carter is “still finishing up rehab on the shoulder injury he had from the Boise State game.” Adding that, “he may still workout for teams sometime in mid-April.”
It has been a lengthy recovery for Carter’s shoulder, an injury that he miraculously played through in the CFP Semifinal against Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl. Carter finished the Orange Bowl with eight quarterback pressures while playing with one arm, which was demonstrably more important to his pre-draft evaluation than a 40-yard dash time or bench press reps would be.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward appears to have usurped Carter on the Tennessee Titans’ draft board and is the likely No. 1 overall pick, but Carter is unlikely to fall beyond pick No. 4 in a group of prospects that includes Ward, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Colorado two-way superstar and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.