The Giants are a week away from opening training camp, and the spotlight is already landing on a pair of second-year defenders who could help define what comes next under John Harbaugh.
Former NFL scout Bucky Brooks put edge defender Abdul Carter and defensive tackle Darius Alexander on his 2026 All-Breakout defense, arguing that both have the talent and the runway to make a real jump. His case is rooted in how young players are often evaluated: pro personnel people pay close attention to second- and third-year players who finish seasons strong, especially when the final stretch hints at more to come.
That’s the lane Brooks sees for Carter and Alexander, both of whom played better for Mike Kafka and Charlie Bullen than they did earlier in the year under Brian Daboll and Shane Bowen.
Carter, the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, arrived with the kind of pass-rushing profile that can change a defense fast. The production was uneven, though.
Next Gen Stats credited him with 72 QB pressures, including a league-best 48 quick pressures occurring in under 2.5 seconds, but he finished with just four sacks. Brooks thinks that number climbs in 2026, especially with new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson set to unleash “organized chaos” with a front seven that includes Carter, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Arvell Reese and Tremaine Edmunds.
With that kind of company, Carter should see plenty of one-on-one chances.
Alexander’s path looks different, but the opportunity is just as clear. The Giants’ trade of Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati opens the door for him to become a disruptive force inside, and Roy Robertson-Harris’ season-ending injury only adds to the workload and the chances to make plays. The 2025 third-round pick closed last season with three sacks and three tackles for loss over his final six games, and at 6-4, 310 pounds, he has the frame and the momentum to build on that finish.
The Giants need both players to become what they were drafted to be. They have the traits.
They have the upside. And they have already shown enough late in the year to make the breakout talk feel more than wishful thinking.
There’s also a broader reason this matters for New York’s defense. The coaching changes last season created a cleaner before-and-after look, and the late improvement from Carter and Alexander stands out in that comparison.
Carter’s explosiveness and lower-body fluidity are rare, and his quick-pressure numbers back that up. The missing piece has been finishing.
That points to a young player who still has details to clean up when the moment gets biggest.
Harbaugh is expected to keep the accountability high, while Bullen remains around to keep working with Carter on the finer points of his position. Wilson’s scheme, if it delivers what the Giants are hoping for, could give Carter the kind of environment where his talent starts showing up in the sack column more often.
Alexander’s second-half rise came after a slow start that may have been affected by an undisclosed injury that cost him much of his rookie offseason. Whatever the cause, he became a steady presence in opposing backfields down the stretch, and the Giants now have a clear opening for him to keep that going with Lawrence, Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Robertson-Harris no longer in the mix.
The larger frustration with the Giants’ defense hasn’t just been the results. It’s been the number of players who look like they should be better than they’ve been.
If Carter, Alexander, Deonte Banks and Tyler Nubin all take a step, the whole conversation around this unit changes fast. And if those flashes turn into week-to-week production, the Giants’ defense could become legitimately scary.
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