Giants fans are thrilled to have another Penn State star after the Saquon Barkley disaster

For six years after he was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft, Saquon Barkley was the face of the New York Giants. Then, last offseason, the Giants were cash-strapped under the weight of Daniel Jones’s albatross of a contract and had to let Barkley walk to the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency. 

Barkley finally made good on his gaudy potential with his hometown team, rushing for over 2,000 yards and winning a Super Bowl with Philadelphia, just dumping salt in the Giants’ gaping wound. New York ultimately moved on from Daniel Jones midway through the season as it sank to the bottom of the NFC East standings and the top of the NFL Draft. 

Then, on Thursday night in Green Bay, the Giants got a new face of the franchise. It’s not their Super Bowl-winning quarterback, Russell Wilson, their former No. 1 overall pick, Jameis Winston, or this year’s first-round QB, Jaxson Dart, who they drafted with the 25th overall pick. No, it’s another Nittany Lion: Abdul Carter

New York selects former Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter No. 3 overall

Carter is the seventh former Penn State player to be selected in the top three of the NFL Draft and first since the Giants selected Barkley in 2018. The superstar edge rusher and reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year won’t just replace Barkley as the face of the franchise in New York, he’ll ease the pain of Barkley’s departure. 

While Carter will be a star on the other side of the ball, he should be just as effective as Barkley was early in his career with the Giants when he won the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2018, and Giants fans are happy to have him. 

Even New York legends know how important it is for Carter to rebuild the pass rush. As former Giants quarterback Phil Simms pointed out on draft night, all four of the Giants’ Super Bowls were led by a dominant defensive line. 

Carter will join a loaded group up front with fellow former first-round picks Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns, whom the franchise traded a second-round pick for last offseason. 

That group of teammates will make life easier for Carter, but what might be difficult is abandoning his love for one of his new team’s biggest rivals.