Giants’ Abdul Carter Exits Minicamp Early With Ankle Injury

The former third-overall pick tweaked his left ankle midway through practice.

New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter tweaked his left ankle during the team's first of three mandatory minicamp practices. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - The New York Giants got a bit of a scare on the first day of their mandatory minicamp when second-year outside linebacker Abdul Carter tweaked his left ankle midway through practice, hobbled off the grass field and disappeared with a trainer into the field house for further evaluation.

Head Coach John Harbaugh confirmed after practice that it was an ankle injury, adding that “it doesn't look serious.”

Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Giants send Carter for further tests to confirm that it is indeed not as serious as it looked when the linebacker first went down after a play, just as it wouldn’t be surprising if the team held Carter out of the remaining two practices scheduled for this week.

Carter is coming off a shaky rookie campaign in which he was mostly quiet until the last five games of the season when he took advantage of the season-ending shoulder injury suffered by fellow outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux.

Over  that period, Carter, the third overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, recorded six of his seven tackles for loss, 11 of his 23 quarterback hits and 3.5 of his four sacks, putting himself into the discussion for Defensive Rookie of the Year, in which he finished fifth in the voting.

Carter, who had been working with the first team defense prior to his injury, was replaced by Thibodeaux, who lined up opposite of Brian Burns.

This story will be updated as necessary

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