NFL Trade Rumors
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reports Giants first-round OLB Abdul Carter was benched for the first quarter in Week 13 against the Patriots.
Raanan mentions Carter was benched due to tardiness, and it’s the second time in three games that he has been disciplined. Carter was benched for the opening drive on November 16th because he missed a walk-through while getting treatment, but the team thought he was asleep.
The first-round pick wasn’t looking to get into details about why he was disciplined again.
“S— happens,” Carter said. “I’m not going to get into details. S— happens.”
Carter didn’t make excuses when asked if the adjustment to the pros had led to his issues. He’s taking full ownership of his mistake and knows he has to be better for his team moving forward.
“I guess you can say that. But I’m not going to use that as an excuse. Like I said, I have to be better. I have to take pride in what I do, be where I have to be at. Simple as that… I let my team down [Monday night]. First two drives, I was out. They scored 17 points. I take responsibility for that. I have to do better.”
Giants interim HC Mike Kafka defended Carter and made it clear it was a coach’s decision both times he was disciplined. The decision was made earlier in the week when Carter was again late to a team activity.
“Listen, when he came back in the game, you saw the kind of impact he had and the player this guy is,” Kafka said. “This is a kid that I, again, I back. I support this kid highly. And for any young player that we have on the roster, whether it’s Abdul or any rookie or young player, we’re going to make sure we take him under our wing and continue to develop these guys because they’re important to us. They’re important to me.”
“That was my decision, my decision only. Anything else outside of it is going to be kept in-house.”
Carter, 22, is one of the top prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft class and a candidate to go No. 1 overall.
Carter was a four-star recruit ranked as the No. 33 overall linebacker in the 2022 recruiting class out of Glenside, Pennsylvania. He committed to Penn State in July of 2021 and enrolled just less than a year later.
The Giants used the No. 3 overall pick in round one on Carter. He’s signed a four-year, $45,255,180 contract that includes a $29,552,856 signing bonus. The contract includes a fifth-year option for the team to pick up in 2028.
In 2025, Carter has appeared in 13 games for the Giants and recorded 31 total tackles, 1.5 sacks and one fumble recovery.
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