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New York Giants rookie linebacker Abdul Carter was benched for the opening series of his team's 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers after sleeping at the team facility and missing a walk-through last week, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to ESPN on Monday (November 17).
Carter took accountability for missing the walk-through in response to the Athletic's report about missing practice but denied it was because he was asleep on Monday.
"Was not sleep, actually doing recovery," Carter wrote on his X account. "Nonetheless that's on ME!"
Carter also shared a separate post that stated, "When the hate don’t work they start telling lies!" on his X account Monday.
Carter finished Sunday's game with one tackle, one quarterback hit and two pressures while appearing in 45 snaps, having played the entire game after being benched for the opening series. The former Penn State standout was expected to start in the place of the injured Kayvon Thibodeaux, but former practice squad players Tomon Fox was instead in the opening series lineup.
Carter was selected by the Giants at No. 3 overall and has faced lofty expectations during his first NFL season, but has been limited to just 0.5 sacks in his first 11 games, with multiple sacks wiped away by penalties. The Athletic also reported that Carter being late to meetings was a trend under recently fired former head coach Brian Daboll and wasn't tolerated by his replacement, interim head coach Mike Kafka, who decided on benching him for the opening defensive series.
The Giants fell to 2-9 on Sunday, their fifth consecutive loss and will face the Detroit Lions in Week 12.