Pat Shurmur will bring a familiar face with him to the Big Apple as the Giants claimed tight end Kyle Carter off waivers from Minnesota.
Nobody is going to confuse Kyle Carter with Kyle Rudolph, but the former Minnesota Vikings tight end is joining the New York Giants.
Source: TE Kyle Carter has been claimed by the Giants, will be awarded to the team on February 5 (day after the Super Bowl). He reunites with Pat Shurmur, his former OC in Minnesota.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 23, 2018
Although the Giants claimed Carter, he can’t officially join the Giants until Feb. 5, the day after Super Bowl 52.
The 24-year-old Carter spent most of the past two seasons on the Vikings practice squad. The Vikings cut him prior to their divisional round matchup against the New Orleans Saints, which the Vikings won in miraculous fashion, 29-24.
Carter has never caught a pass in the regular season, but he did catch four passes for 39 yards and a touchdown this past preseason.
Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State, where he had a respectable collegiate career, catching 84 passes for 963 yards and four touchdowns, Carter has ideal size—6-foot-3 and 245 pounds—for an NFL tight end.
He has a tough road ahead of him to make the 2018 roster as the Giants already have Evan Engram, Rhett Ellison and Jerell Adams all under contract at tight end. He will need to shine during OTA’s and during the preseason if he’s going to make the roster.
One thing that bodes well in his favor is that he has a head coach that believes in him. Maybe a change of scenery will see him exceed expectations and force his way on to the 53-man roster.
