Giants’ Lorenzo Carter done for season with ruptured Achilles in left foot

Lorenzo Carter is done for the year.

The Giants' third-year edge rusher ruptured the Achilles tendon in his left foot in the first quarter of Sunday’s 37-34 road loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Carter, 24, a third-round pick out of Georgia in 2018, had started every game for the Giants this season. He’d played 84% of the defensive snaps through their first four games (fourth-most on the team).

He had one sack, 15 tackles, four tackles for loss, four QB hits and a pass defended. His eight pressures, per Pro Football Focus, ranked third on the team.

“Zo is an integral part of this team, he’s a great dude in the locker room, he’s a blast to coach,” head coach Joe Judge said Monday. “We won’t see him again this year. We’re gonna miss having a guy like that out there for a lot of different reasons. Thoughts and prayers go out to him, and we appreciate what he’s done for this team and we look forward to getting him back next year. That being said, as with any move, everyone needs to play better to make sure we play better as a team.”

Carter’s Monday diagnosis was no surprise after Sunday’s non-contact injury on a third down in the red zone. Carter gave Cowboys QB Dak Prescott a shove at the end of a pass rush, backed away, hopped onto his left foot, and his Achilles simply gave out.

Carter was carted off the field, and the Giants oddly called it an ankle injury initially, but after CBS reported it as an Achilles, the Giants amended their injury diagnosis.

Second-year edge rusher Oshane Ximines (shuolder) was sitting out the first of three games he must miss while on injured reserve. So veterans Kyler Fackrell (65 snaps) and Markus Golden (57) logged heavy playing time with both youngsters out.

Golden had played just seven snaps the previous week against the Rams. He registered half a sack but also committed a 15-yard facemask penalty in the fourth quarter.

Judge said “there’s some hope” that Ximines could “come back soon,” so it’s possible he could be back in the lineup by Week 8.

Rookie outside linebackers Cam Brown and Carter Coughlin have played only special teams so far, but it will be interesting to see if they work in, as well.

In other injury news, wideout Sterling Shepard (turf toe) is eligible to come off injured reserve this week or at least to be designated for return within a 21-day window.

Judge said he knows Shepard has “made a lot of progress” in his rehab, but he and the doctors and trainers still have to determine if Shepard is ready to return to practice.

Judge said he also will have to judge how linebacker David Mayo (meniscus) is moving in practice to determine if he can activate him for Sunday’s game against Washington. Mayo was designated for return on Thursday, so the Giants have 21 days from then to activate him.

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