ball carrier vs passer

ball carrier and passer both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
ball carrier	Yes	No	No	No
passer	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, passer is a hyponym of ball carrier; that is, passer is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than ball carrier:

ball carrier: (football) the player who is carrying (and trying to advance) the ball on an offensive play
passer: (football) a ball carrier who tries to gain ground by throwing a forward pass

Other hyponyms of ball carrier include forward passer, rusher.

ball carrier (noun)	passer (noun)
(football) the player who is carrying (and trying to advance) the ball on an offensive play	(football) a ball carrier who tries to gain ground by throwing a forward pass
	a person who passes by casually or by chance
	a student who passes an examination
	a person who passes as a member of a different ethnic or racial group