Giants' Abdul Carter responds to report about benching

On Monday, New York Giants reporter Dan Duggan of The Athletic shared that rookie pass-rusher Abdul Carter was benched for the opening series of the club's 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday because Carter "was asleep in the team facility" and "missed a walk-through leading up to the game." 

Later in the day, Carter responded to that report. 

Abdul Carter denies he missed walk-through while asleep

"Was not sleep, actually doing recovery," Carter posted on X. "Nonetheless that’s on ME!" 

Carter later added: "When the hate don’t work they start telling lies!"

For what it's worth, Jordan Raanan of ESPN also reported that he heard from a source that Carter was benched after the 22-year-old "was asleep at the team facility and missed a recent walk-through." Carter recorded one tackle, one quarterback hit and two pressures as the Giants fell to 2-9 on the season. 

Carter has largely failed to live up to the expectations many had for him when the Giants made him the third overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. Over the first 11 regular-season games of his career, he tallied just 0.5 sacks. Meanwhile, the Giants blew four double-digit leads from Week 2 through Week 10. Big Blue held a 20-19 advantage in the final period of Sunday's contest before the club endured a fifth straight defeat. 

According to Duggan, Carter has had 2.5 sacks negated by penalties this season. 

Are there long-term concerns about Abdul Carter?

Duggan added that a source revealed that "being late to meetings has been a trend during Carter’s rookie season that former coach Brian Daboll let slide." The Giants parted ways with Daboll less than 24 hours after they suffered a 24-20 loss at the Chicago Bears on Nov. 9. Interim head coach Mike Kafka made the call to discipline Carter after the player's latest infraction. 

Kafka indicated after Sunday's contest that Carter will be in the lineup when the Giants play at the Detroit Lions (6-4) on Nov. 23. Shortly after Duggan and Raanan posted their reports, ESPN BET had the Giants as 10.5-point underdogs for the matchup at Detroit's Ford Field.