The Giants lost to the Packers on Sunday afternoon, 27-20, in New York’s first game since the franchise fired Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka took over as interim head coach. There was a notable absence on the first defensive drive of the day for Big Blue, however: Abdul Carter did not take the field to defend Green Bay’s first series. He subbed in afterwards and played every remaining snap of the contest, finishing with one tackle and one quarterback hit. Afterwards Carter confirmed he missed the opening drive because he made a “mistake” but didn’t offer more details. Kafka was not particularly forthcoming about the matter in his postgame press conference, either.
On Monday, the reason for Carter’s benching appeared to come to light. The Athletic’s Dan Duggan reported the 2025 first-round pick was held out of the opening drive of the game because he slept through a team walk-through.
“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,” Duggan wrote on Monday. “Carter, according to sources, was asleep in the team facility at the time of the walk-through.”
Duggan further reported that tardiness was a recurring issue for Carter but former boss Brian Daboll “let it slide.”
A few hours after the report, Carter himself chimed in to respond. He said he was actually “doing recovery” and wasn’t asleep but took ownership for missing the walk-through all the same.
“Was not sleep, actually doing recovery. Nonetheless that’s on ME!” Carter wrote on his X account.
Was not sleep, actually doing recovery. Nonetheless that’s on ME!
— Abdul Carter (@1NCRDB1) November 17, 2025
Carter was a highly touted prospect coming out of Penn State and his outstanding college career led to his selection at fourth overall in the 2025 draft. But it’s been a struggle in the NFL. Carter joined a loaded pass rush rotation in New York, competing for snaps with established talents in Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux. As a result Carter has played only 70% of the Giants’ defensive snaps so far this season and totaled only 23 combined tackles to go with 0.5 sacks.
It hasn’t been a great start to his career and missing walk-throughs, for whatever reason, isn’t going to help turn it around. But Carter is clearly owning it and Kafka was effusive in his praise for the young pass-rusher after Sunday’s loss.
“[Carter] played his butt off,” Kafka said during his postgame press conference. “He practiced his tail off, played his butt off, I’m really happy about Abdul and excited to watch him continue to grow and continue to play a lot more as a pro.”
"I'm really happy about Abdul. Excited to watch him continue to grow and continue to play a lot more as a pro"
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) November 16, 2025
Mike Kafka praises Abdul Carter playing every snap today after sitting out the first defensive series: pic.twitter.com/GIuLVmu7sS
Carter’s next opportunity to make an impact will come on Sunday against the Lions in Detroit.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Abdul Carter Responds to Report He Was Benched for Sleeping Through Giants Walk-Through.
