Giants outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter declined to answer a question of whether he was one of the Giants unrestricted pending free agents who had been in head coach Joe Judge's office begging to stay with the franchise.
But Carter believes that Judge has built the start of something special, and if the opportunity and circumstances are right, he'd love to be back.
"Yeah, man. I love it here. I love it in New York. I love this organization," said Carter, who was the Giants' third-round pick out of Georgia in the 2018 draft. "I’ve been blessed to be a part of a great organization like the Giants. I’d love to come back. (Head) Coach (Joe) Judge, he has something going. I like what he’s doing with it."
Carter, who missed most of last season with a torn Achilles and who dealt with an ankle injury earlier this year, finally got healthy enough to put together some solid tape for whoever is ultimately going to decide if he's worth a second contract.
In his last five games, Carter has 27 total tackles, eight quarterback hits, and five sacks, including at least one sack in his last four games.
"I’ve grown into my game, just grown into it," Carter said when asked what clicked for him. "Being comfortable, being healthy, and just the coaches, we’re all working together and coming up with a game plan that works."
Ultimately though, Carter will have to take multiple factors under consideration when making that decision. He knows that Judge would love for him to stay, and Carter also knows the Giants have a good core group of players committed to getting the Giants on track, something he said hasn't always been the case.
"I’ve been a part of teams that haven’t fought as hard as we do, haven’t practiced as hard as we do every day. We practice hard. We fight for each other. Judge squeezes it out of us every day," he said.
"It’s not acceptable for us to come in and hang our heads. We come in every day, every week, no matter what, and we work hard at it, and I appreciate that. That’s what it takes to win. I know the results haven’t been there, but I think we’ve got the right guys in the locker room. We’ve got the right mindset."
The problem for Carter is the Giants won't have the money to splurge on free agents, which could mean if they want him back, they might have to offer him a one-year "prove it" deal to remain part of the foundation being built.
Would such an arrangement be acceptable, or will money be more of the deciding factor?
"I want to win," Carter said. "Winning is the thing that everybody comes into the league wanting to do. Of course, it’s money and stuff involved since it’s a business aspect, but for guys like me that just enjoy the game and just have that love for the game, that childhood love, it’s about winning."
Carter thinks the Giants can deliver on that.
"We’ve got a group of guys that are competing no matter what, that are going to come to work every day and work hard. I appreciate all my brothers who are doing that," he said.
"My job is to focus on the defense, make sure we do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to win. I think we do that. We fight hard every play, no matter what. Each possession, we’re coming out swinging."
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