The New York Giants kicked off their mandatory minicamp on Monday as the team continues to start its preparations for the 2026 campaign. There’s been a bit of drama surrounding the Giants as of late, thanks in large part to Jaxson Dart‘s controversial decision to introduce Donald Trump at a recent rally in New York, but the team is looking to put that behind them.
Sure enough, a new issue popped up on Monday during the team’s first practice of the week, as second-year pass rusher Abdul Carter suffered an ankle injury. Unsurprisingly, head coach John Harbaugh was asked about Carter’s status moving forward, and he didn’t seem too concerned about this injury.
John Harbaugh Not Concerned About Abdul Carter Injury
I’m sure they’ll do a more detailed evaluation to make sure. While he’ll have time to heal any degree of strain, certainly Carter doesn’t want to
New York selected Carter with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, with the hope being that he would team up with Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux to form a fearsome pass rush trio. While Burns had a dominant year, the same wasn’t necessarily true for either Carter or Thibodeaux.
It was a bit of a rocky rookie season for Carter, as he found himself in the news for missing a handful of team meetings throughout the year, which resulted in him getting benched. Even when he was on the field, though, Carter struggled to stand out, as he finished the year with just four sacks in 17 games of action.
New York selected another pass rusher, Arvell Reese, with the No. 5 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, so Carter could conceivably have some competition for snaps moving forward. Now, he appears to have suffered an ankle injury, which could disrupt his quest to get himself in tip-top shape for the start of the season. Harbaugh knows any sort of injury at this time of the year is worrisome, but he didn’t seem too concerned when asked about Carter’s status.
“Giants HC John Harbaugh says it looks like Abdul Carter may’ve twisted his ankle & that ‘it doesn’t look serious,’ per reports,” Josina Anderson shared in a post on X.
Giants Set to Take Things Easy with Abdul Carter Amid Injury Concern
GettyAbdul Carter #51 of the New York Giants during rookie minicamp at NY Giants Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
The start of the 2026 NFL season is still over three months away, so the Giants don’t need to take any chances with Carter’s status for the time being. The good news is that this injury isn’t anything serious, but New York will likely be cautious with Carter for the foreseeable future, as it doesn’t want to risk having him suffer a more severe ailment.
It will be worth seeing how much work Carter does over the next two days, because the team will break for a six-and-a-half-week break before returning to town for the start of training camp in July. For now, Carter seems to be doing fine, but it will be worth keeping tabs on his status, especially as the Giants try to make it through the remainder of their minicamp action without any more injuries.
Giants HC John Harbaugh Issues Abdul Carter Injury Update