When the New York Giants’ defense first took the field on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, rookie Abdul Carter was not on the field.
The No. 3 overall pick in this past April’s draft was benched for Green Bay’s opening drive for disciplinary reasons.
Interim head coach Mike Kafka refused to delve into specifics after the 27-20 loss, but The Athletic’s Dan Duggan is reporting Carter’s benching stemmed from sleeping through a walk-through this week.
“Giants rookie LB Abdul Carter was benched for the opening drive of yesterday’s loss to the Packers for missing a walk-through,” wrote Duggan in a post on X.
“Carter was asleep in the team facility at the time of the walk-through.”
An Environment Brian Daboll Fostered
According to Duggan, this wasn’t the first time Carter had been late or missed a practice in his first season in the NFL.
Former head coach Brian Daboll had been lenient with the rookie edge rusher in his first season out of Penn State, never disciplining Carter for his tardiness.
“Being late to meetings has been a trend during Carter’s rookie season that former coach Brian Daboll let slide, a source said,” wrote Duggan.
“Interim coach Mike Kafka disciplined Carter for the violation in his first week on the job.”
Not seeing Carter on the field to start the game was glaringly obvious, given Kayvon Thibodeaux was out with a shoulder injury.
Questions immediately began to arise about what was going on with the New York Giants’ No. 3 overall pick.
“I made a mistake during the week that was detrimental to the team,” Carter said after the game.
“I already know that whatever I do have is going to have consequences. That was the consequence, have to live with it, keep playing.”
The former Penn State standout will need to change his mindset if he wants a long-lasting NFL career, as missing practice time, especially as a rookie, is about as egregious as it gets.
Abdul Carter’s Underwhelming Rookie Year
For the third overall pick in the draft, Carter has had a frustrating rookie season.
Through 11 games, he’s only totaled 23 tackles, one tackle for loss, and half a sack.
We’re talking about a player who requested to unretire legendary New York Giants defender Lawrence Taylor’s jersey number here.
Despite the lack of box score production, Carter has made an impact.
He’s tied for 26th in the league in pressures with 35, but his inability to finish plays and rack up quarterback sacks is frustrating to say the least.
To be fair, the Giants have a bit of a logjam at pass rusher, with Brian Burns and Thibodeaux ahead of him on the depth chart.
But Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers should’ve been a major opportunity for Carter to establish himself, given the injury to New York’s other first-round edge.
Instead, the Penn State product slept through a walk-through and got himself benched for the opening drive, subjecting himself to the punt return unit for his first action in the game.
Carter has some things he needs to sort out; otherwise, he risks falling out of favor with the coaching staff in his first season of pro football.
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