New York Giants rookie Abdul Carter started Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers on the bench.
Interim head coach Mike Kafka refused to be drawn into revealing why that was, but it has since become clear that it was due to disciplinary reasons, as reported by The Athletic on Monday.
According to the outlet, Carter fell asleep at the team facility, which caused him to miss a walk-through. The miscue resulted in him being left out of the game for the Packers’ opening drive.
“New York Giants rookie linebacker Abdul Carter was benched for the opening series of Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers because he missed a walk-through leading up to the game, according to team sources,” the report notes.
“Carter, according to sources, was asleep in the team facility at the time of the walk-through.”
Carter, who went viral for dwarfing his former coach and teammate before the start of the season, has since taken to social media to deny having fallen asleep, claiming he was recovering. He did take responsibility, however.
“Was not sleep, actually doing recovery. Nonetheless that’s on ME!” he wrote.
“I call sleep recovery time as well. Get right king they don’t know your body like you do,” someone commented.
“I told my boss that too,” another user joked.
“That’s accountability. Sorry ur first season is dealing with this bullshit but TRUST ME u will be a f**king beast here,” said a third.
Abdul Carter Calls Out Liars
The former Penn State star returned for the rest of Sunday’s game and made one tackle in the loss.
“I made a mistake during the week that was detrimental to the team,” he said. “That was the consequence, so (I) had to live with it.”
Carter later returned to X to imply that he was made the subject of “lies.”
“When the hate don’t work they start telling lies!” he wrote in another tweet.
“We’re watching the games. The tape isn’t lying. No one’s gonna be asking your permission to wear 51 in the future 💀💀💀,” someone replied.
“Bro all due respect why don’t you sack the QB first and then tweet,” another comment read.
“Same record as the Jets and you just were benched and don’t have a sack yet 😂😂,” someone laughed.
Carter has not had the best of starts to his Giants career after going third overall in the 2025 NFL Draft.
He has had 2.5 sacks rendered null by penalties, with just a half sack to his name at this point in the season. Still, he has been a disruptive force on defense, recording 35 quarterback pressures.
