Can Carter be what the Giants need him to be?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Patrick Graham isn’t a gusher.

“That’s just my personality,” the Giants’ defensive coordinator said. “I’m just hard and miserable all the time. Doom and gloom.”

There is one player who manages to lift that dour persona, however. Graham was asked this week about Lorenzo Carter, the linebacker’s comeback from a ruptured Achilles last season and the important responsibilities he figures to carry into this upcoming season.

That’s when the gray skies parted and Graham began beaming like the sun. He nearly choked up.

“I’m not going to get emotional or anything, but I’m very proud of his progress, to be honest with you,” Graham said. “Very proud of his progress. I think he looks like a different football player on the field.”

Different is expected for a player returning from such a serious injury. Different for the better? That’s a rarity. And it may be one that Carter is about to show.

“It’s all just about moving forward and getting better every day,” Carter said. “That was the main focus in rehab and that’s been the same focus I’ve had coming out here to practice . . . You have to get over that hump in your head where it’s like, ‘Can I do this? Can I trust myself to come out here and be the same type of player?’ ”

The Giants need that from him. Carter has never quite been able to live up to his billing with the Giants — Graham described most of his career as “potential this, potential that, all the time” — but they are counting on him to be their defensive difference-maker up front in 2021. The team had hardly any sack production from its outside linebackers last year, and Carter is the most likely candidate to change that.

Last year, defensive lineman Leonard Williams led the team in sacks with 11.5. No one else on the roster had more than four. Williams said he wouldn’t mind some competition in that area from teammates.

“I think that’s just going to make us be better as an overall defense, as individuals, and as a team,” Williams said. “If Zo has more sacks than me or I’m up one more sack than him, then I’m going to play harder and he’s going to play harder because he doesn’t want me to catch up to him and vice versa. I think that’ll just continue to push the team.”