ESPN NFL Draft expert compares Abdul Carter to Micah Parsons

ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller sees a lot of Micah Parsons in Abdul Carter. With ESPN unveiling its latest 2025 NFL mock draft on Wednesday, Carter was projected to go No. 4 overall to the New England Patriots according to Mel Kiper Jr.

That selection elicited praise from Miller, who said he likes the fit for first-year Patriots coach Mike Vrabel as he looks to turn the defense around. He also drew the comparison for Carter to Parson, as both players played college football for Penn State.

“This is an A+ pick,” Miller said. “Abdul Carter is the best player in this draft. I know we’ll eventually do our player comp show. I’m gonna cheat and give you one early. This is Micah Parsons, but he’s 260 pounds. So he can play that stack linebacker. We saw it his first year at Penn State. Let this man put his hand in the dirt and go get quarterbacks. It’s what he did last year. He had one arm against Notre Dame and he completely took over that game and kept Penn State in that contest. He is a special player.

“Everything I’ve heard about him off the field is he’s a hard worker. This is what you want. This is a blue chip prospect. If you’re the Patriots, do you have other needs? Yes, but you also have $100 million in cap space. You can fill in some of those needs. This is the type of player you can build a defense around and Mike Vrabel gets that.”

Carter was an absolute menace at getting into the backfield this past season, leading the country with 24 tackles for loss. He also added 12 sacks, four passes defended and a pair of forced fumble to earn Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and All-American honors.

For reference, Parsons recorded only five sacks during his final season at Penn State in 2019 before being selected 12th overall to the Dallas Cowboys. He would go on to earn Defensive Rookie of the Year the following season while recording 13 sacks.

Parsons has recorded at least 12 sacks and been selected to the Pro Bowl in all four of his NFL seasons thus far. If Carter lives up to the hype, he could be just as good or even better.

“You move him outside so he can just go after the quarterback and he did that very effectively game-in-and-game-out for the last two years for the Nittany Lions,” Kiper said. “He surpassed that this year what he did the first two years combined. So Abdul Carter, sack artist. Closes out of the blocks, explosive like a cat.

“He did it all for the Nittany Lions last year. When you’re picking fourth and you’re an AFC and a division with Josh (Allen) and Tua (Tagovailoa) and all those other great quarterbacks, you need a pass rusher. Take the best player. Don’t force another need area.”

The 2025 NFL Draft will begin April 24, so we’ll have to wait a while to see if this prediction from Kiper is correct. A lot can change over the next three months, but for now, he stands out as another great linebacker from Penn State.