Not-so-big news from Week 11: The New York Giants blew a fourth quarter lead again. Bigger news: In a week where starter Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) was out for the day, preseason Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite, Abdul Carter, was strangely benched for New York's first defensive series, before playing in every subsequent defensive snap.
According to The Athletic's Dan Duggan, the benching came as a result of Carter missing a team walkthrough earlier in the week. Sources that provided Duggan the information also mentioned that Carter actually slept through the walkthrough, and that he'd had a trend of lateness to team meetings that was unaddressed under former head coach Brian Daboll.
Abdul Carter took full accountability for an 'honest mistake'
Carter took the fall for the missed walkthrough, but pushed back against other parts of the report in a statement to ESPN:
"My mistake was an honest mistake," Carter said. "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.
In the same statement, Carter clarified the missed walkthrough as a scheduling miscommunication between him and interim head coach Mike Kafka, and that the two had already quietly sorted through the issue.
On the surface, this benching and the reports that have come out of it are just the cherry on top for the New York Giants' media circus. Between the pre- and early-season optimism behind its new young core, the rash of injuries to their biggest playmakers, and in-season firing of its head coach, New York's 2025 season has already been an emotional rollercoaster. And with the additional context of Carter's rather disappointing rookie season stats-wise (15 solo tackles and one sack on the season), it's easy to lean into the doom and gloom of this report.
Why Abdul Carter's benching, no matter the reason, is a good sign
Digging one layer down shows encouraging signs for Carter and the Giants organization as a whole. The worst case scenario is that Carter actually did miss or was late to multiple team meetings. In that case, Kafka putting his foot down signals a shift towards accountability from the coaching staff.
The more likely and better case is that Kafka simply has a zero-tolerance policy for attendance, and wasn't willing to show deference to a star in the making and top 10 pick. Most encouraging is that this was all largely kept in-house until the report leaked a day after the game.
And in Carter's case, this incident was the first test of accountability he's faced in his young career. He's found himself in a strange situation as a top three pick in that the team he ended up on, in that while as abhorrent in multiple areas as most teams are at the top of the NFL draft, the team that landed him isn't hurting at his position.
Each of his seniors in New York's pass rush are genuine NFL Top 100 talents in their own right, and Carter hasn't been called upon to lead the unit. And in his tertiary role, Carter has indeed delivered on the field (top 15 in QB hurries and hits, 24th in total pressures).
This report, meanwhile, was his first real test as a future cornerstone of the Giants' future. And fail he did, miscommunication or no. But as diva-esque as top pass rushers can be, Carter owned up to his fault, stayed focused enough to draw praise from team captain Brian Burns, and also kept the benching quiet until forced to respond.
These are good signs from someone who should be in a leadership role for New York going forward -- humility and what looks like actual buy-in into his team in a top pick is rare, especially from a non-QB who's arguably being underutilized on a horrible team. Abdul Carter is going to be just fine, and tamped down what could have been a horrible addendum to a horrible season as it was.