Abdul Carter gave it a shot, figuring he had nothing to lose.

Sure, Lawrence Taylor’s No. 56 is retired by the New York Giants and is one of the most revered jersey numbers in franchise history. But Carter, the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL draft Thursday night, idolizes Taylor and wanted to see if he’d be cool with him going after quarterbacks all these years later while wearing that familiar number.

Well, L.T. sacked those dreams quickly.

Taylor heard of Carter’s request and, while honored, thinks the former Penn State pass rusher needs to do a number on opposing offenses in something other than No. 56.

“He has to be the player that he is,” Taylor told ESPN. “He can’t be another Lawrence Taylor. Well, he may be better than a Lawrence Taylor, who knows? But he has to make his mark. It’s up to him.”

Carter wore No. 11 at Penn State — but that number is also retired by the Giants in honor of quarterback Phil Simms.

Browns draft Sanders >> Shedeur Sanders’ wait finally has ended.

The Cleveland Browns selected the Colorado quarterback and son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick in the NFL draft. That ended a stunning fall for Sanders, the most recognizable player in this draft class after his attention-getting college career.

Draft forecasts generally rated Sanders behind only Miami’s Cam Ward — who went first overall to the Tennessee Titans — among quarterbacks in this class. Five quarterbacks were taken before him instead, with one of them going to Cleveland when the Browns picked Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel in the third round.

Seahawks trade QB >> The Minnesota Vikings acquired quarterback Sam Howell in a trade with Seattle during the NFL draft, swapping fifth-round picks with the Seahawks for a young backup for J.J. McCarthy who has starting experience.

The Vikings sent the 142nd overall selection to the Seahawks for the 172nd overall selection to swing the deal for Howell, who passed for 3,946 yards in 2023 while starting all 17 games for the Washington Commanders.

Howell led the league that season with 21 interceptions and 65 sacks for a 4-13 team, but the 2022 fifth-round pick is just 24 years old and joining a quarterback-friendly offense directed by coach Kevin O’Connell.

Golf

Novak, Griffin lead at Zurich Classic >> Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin shot an 11-under 61 in better-ball play to take a three-stroke lead into the final round of the Zurich Classic, the PGA Tour’s only team event.

Each chasing their first PGA Tour title, Novak and Griffin took a 27-under 189 total into the alternate-shot finale Sunday at TPC of Louisiana.

Novak is coming off a playoff loss last week to Justin Thomas in the RBC Heritage, his second straight top-three finish.

Ryu, Saigo share lead >> Haeran Ryu capped a front-nine run in the Chevron Championship with a chip-in birdie on the ninth hole, then held on in tricky wind conditions for a share of the third-round lead with Mao Saigo.

On a gusty, sunny day at The Club at Carlton Woods in the first women’s major tournament of the year, Ryu parred the final nine holes for a 4-under 68. Saigo followed with 69 to match Ryu at 9-under 207.