Giants rookie blitzes reports he was disciplined for sleeping during team meeting

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Abdul Carter received a rude awakening Sunday when the New York Giants sidelined him for their first defensive series against the Green Bay Packers.

Interim head coach Mike Kafka said it was a coach's decision, prompting speculation about a potential punishment. Kafka added he wanted to "just keep the rest of that in-house," and Carter himself told reporters that he had done something wrong in the week leading up to the game.

Sure enough, it turns out it was indeed a punishment for missing a team walkthrough while sleeping at the team facility, according to multiple reports.

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New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter gets ready for a play against the San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 2, 2025. (Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

The Athletic also reported that Carter has been "late to meetings," and former head coach Brian Daboll was letting it "slide." Daboll was fired last week after the Giants blew their third double-digit, fourth-quarter lead of the season.

Carter, though, denied those reports on Tuesday. The rookie said he made an "honest mistake" in not realizing a change in the normal practice times following Kafka being tabbed as interim head coach, so he was getting treatment instead. He claimed, though, that he was not asleep.

"My mistake was an honest mistake," Carter told ESPN on Tuesday. "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 was