Abdul Carter denies being benched for sleeping through Giants practice

New York Giants rookie outside linebacker Abdul Carter was benched for the opening series of Sunday’s 27-20 Week 11 home defeat to the Green Bay Packers. Jordan Raanan of ESPN reported Monday that Carter was asleep at the team facility and missed a recent walk-through, leading to his benching for one series.

Carter on Tuesday denied that he fell asleep at the facility. He said that interim head coach Mike Kafka changed the normal practice times, and he didn’t realize the change was made until it was too late. Carter added he was getting treatment at the time of the walk-through and addressed his absence from practice in a FaceTime call with Kafka later that day.

“My mistake was an honest mistake,” Carter told Adam Schefter of ESPN. “I own the fact that it was an honest mistake. I was getting treatment, and I told Coach Kafka that, too. But to say I was sleeping at that time just wasn’t true. And it also wasn’t a trend. This was the only time it happened.”

Carter remained on the sideline for the first six snaps of the game. He finished the game with one tackle and a quarterback hit.

Abdul Carter struggling to make consistent impact as a rookie

Carter’s initial denial of him sleeping came in a direct reply to Dan Duggan, the reporter for The Athletic, who posted the story online: “Was not sleep, actually doing recovery. Nonetheless that’s on ME!” He would share an additional post, which seemed to be about the situation without directly addressing it. Carter wrote, “When the hate don’t work they start telling lies!” Carter further owned up to the mistake in his conversation with Schefter.

“I don’t want anonymous sources to say these types of things about me that are untrue,” Carter said. “I did make a mistake, and I own up to what I did.”

Carter, the 2025 third overall pick out of Penn State, was expected to be an immediate contributor for the Giants. While he’s flashed at times, he’s yet to have a breakout performance. Carter has 23 tackles (12 solo), one tackle for loss, nine quarterback hits and half a sack.