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The New York Giants received praise for a strong first round of the 2025 NFL draft. The Giants landed Penn State star Abdul Carter with the No. three pick before trading back into Round 1 to take quarterback Jaxson Dart 25th overall. Carter has not been shy about expressing his desire to be the next great Giants defender. He’s also not been shy about asking Giants legends if he can wear their retired number.
Carter asked Phil Simms if he could wear No. 11, which was retired by the team in 1995. While Simms says he was open to allowing the young defensive end to use his number, he was ultimately “outvoted by his family,” according to ProFootballTalk on X.
Whether Simms’ family actually shut the idea down or if the Super Bowl-winning quarterback is just using that as a smokescreen to avoid coming off as the bad guy, Carter got his answer. No. 11 will remain retired, as it should.
Giants’ top draft pick Abdul Carter won’t wear Phil Simms’ No. 11
A rookie entering the NFL asking to wear a franchise legend’s retired number before even taking a single snap at the pro level is, perhaps, a bit off-putting. But in Carter’s case, he didn’t just inquire about one retired number. He had feelers out for two.
In addition to Simms’ number 11, Carter expressed interest in wearing Lawrence Taylor’s iconic number 56, which was retired by the Giants in 1994. He reached out to the Hall of Famer and was promptly denied.
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LT was not interested in allowing his number to be used by Carter. The Giants legend, known as the greatest defensive player in the history of football, suggested that the talented, young DE “Get another number… and then make it famous.”
After attempting to un-retire two numbers in his first week as a member of the Giants, Carter was blasted for his brazenness. New York sports talk veteran Mike Francesa did not like the idea of the rookie putting himself in the same conversation as Taylor by attempting to wear his number.
Francesa considered the request “brazen, obnoxious and one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard a highly prized recruit do.” While that sentiment is shared by many, it’s also possible that the jersey number requests were just Carter’s way of connecting with the Giants' fanbase.
Carter clearly aspires to become the next Giants great. He has the skillset to make that happen. Maybe he thought wearing a retired number would help connect the franchise's proud past to its promising present.
However innocent the request may have been, some fans felt it was a self-serving shortcut to a status he has yet to earn. Either way, Carter will now pick his own number and go about making it legendary.
