Abdul Carter Faces Giants Defense Fix After 31st-Place Run Finish

abdul carter enters a defense the Giants rebuilt after last season’s run problems. New York finished 31st against the run and gave up 145.3 rushing yards per game, a level of damage that helped make the unit the team’s most disappointing.

The numbers were worse than a bad ranking. The Giants allowed 75 runs of 10 or more yards and finished with a league-worst +635 rushing yards over expected, while the defense also coughed up multiple fourth-quarter leads.

Lawrence Could Not Carry It

Dexter Lawrence was one of the top defensive linemen in the league, but the Giants leaned on him heavily and still could not stop the run. Their 15th-place finish in stuff percentage at 16.3% sat next to the rest of the profile and showed how often opponents still found yardage elsewhere.

That left New York trying to patch problems across all three levels of the defense. The result was not a single weak spot, but a system that gave up explosive gains, long drives, and late-game control.

Reader And Edmunds Arrive

The Giants answered by adding DJ Reader, Tremaine Edmunds, Colton Hood, and Greg Newsome to the defense for the coming year. Reader is set to replace Lawrence’s gap-stuffing production, while Edmunds is in line to take Bobby Okereke’s spot at the second level.

Hood and Newsome were brought in to compete with Deonte Banks, and Cor'Dale Flott signed with Tennessee. That gives the Giants a different mix on paper, with new bodies at the line, at linebacker, and in the secondary after a season when the run defense finished near the bottom of the league.

For Carter, the assignment is clear: he is joining a unit that has to prove the overhaul works in games, not in theory. The Giants did not just need more pressure off the edge; they needed to stop being gashed for 145.3 rushing yards a game and turn a 31st-ranked run defense into something that can hold up when opponents try to lean on it.