There's an ugly rumor circulating about Abdul Carter that the New York Giants rookie is pushing back against.
The rumor comes from The Athletic's Dan Duggan and says Carter was benched for the first series of the Week 11 game against the Green Bay Packers because he slept through a walk-through during the week.
"Giants rookie linebacker Abdul Carter was benched for the opening series of Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the Packers because he missed a walk-through leading up to the game, according to team sources," Duggan reported. "Carter, according to sources, was asleep in the team facility at the time of the walk-through."
Duggan's report has since been confirmed by SNY's Connor Hughes, who said he has heard the same about Carter.
On Monday morning, Carter pushed back against the report, saying it's not true.
Carter admits he did miss the walk-through, but he said it was because he was getting treatment, not because he was sleeping. Nonetheless, Carter says that his missing the walk-through is on him.
"Was not sleep, actually doing recovery. Nonetheless that’s on ME," Carter wrote.
Carter then went on to say in a separate tweet: "When the hate don't work they start telling lies!"
Duggan shared more negative information about Carter in his report. The Athletic writer also revealed that Carter has been late to meetings in the past, something former head coach Brian Daboll used to excuse.
"Being late to meetings has been a trend during Carter’s rookie season that former coach Brian Daboll let slide, a source said," Duggan wrote.
We want to believe Carter is telling the truth, but he has every reason in the world not to because it's a terrible look for him.
Seeing as two separate reporters are sharing the same information, it's hard to trust what Carter is claiming.
Nevertheless, this is a troubling pattern of behavior from Carter and the Giants need to get out ahead of this before it becomes a bigger problem.
Clearly, Daboll had no interest in doing that, but it would appear interim head coach Mike Kafka is running a tighter ship. Good on him for doing that.
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