Lorenzo Carter: “Refining my game and becoming more powerful”

New York Giants’ third-year pass rusher Lorenzo Carter seems primed and ready for the 2020 season. The former Georgia Bulldog was asked several questions about his skill-set, the new coaching regime, and his one on one against fourth overall pick Andrew Thomas.

When asked about his offseason self-assessment, Carter reiterated several times about refining his game as a pass rusher with hand technique while trying to become a more powerful pass rusher at the point of attack. Carter spoke about learning the advantages to certain pass-rushing angles that may maximize his effectiveness in the coming season.

“It was really just refining my game, like I said, working hands, working power, and working the angles really because a lot of times, it comes down to what types of angles you have. That’s one thing I saw a lot last year and then the coaches pointed it out to me when we got into the lab this year.”

Carter expressed excitement with the current outside linebacker room that consists of himself, Markus Golden, Oshane Ximines, and Kyler Fackrell. In typical Joe Judge fashion, Carter conveyed the importance of fundamentals and team defense that outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema is instilling within Patrick Graham’s system.

“Our defense is a little different. We play with more patience and it’s just a lot of emphasis on doing your job and being very fundamentally sound. That’s a lot of what we’ve been working on, not even specifically just pass rush or specifically run. It’s more the coaches are looking at our feet, making sure we’re putting our feet in the right places, having our eyes in the right places. The rest they trust that we have the ability to make plays. But once we get the fundamentals down and make sure we get our eyes on our keys and know what we’re looking at and we’re looking for, everything else will follow.”

Details, details, details, people ... it’s been the hot word lately for the Joe Judge led Giants. Being detail-oriented can help mitigate mistakes and mask personnel discrepancies with opponents. Being fundamentally-sound and aware of responsibilities is an attainable goal. It seems that Carter understands that fact; this was his response when asked about his personal statistical production improving this season:

“This year there’s a lot of emphasis on doing your job and making sure that you don’t try to go outside your responsibilities and give up different things by trying to make a play. That if we do our job and just stay locked in on the moment, locked in on the play, then it’s going to come to you. It’s either going to come to you or you’re going to force it to someone else. That’s just the big thing, staying patient. Being a lot more patient this year than just trying to go do things outside of your responsibilities.”

Carter seems ready for the season, and eager to try out his new pass-rushing techniques. Let’s hope he has success fitting into this defense while developing better hand technique and more power at the point of attack.