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Prior to the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, Jalen Carter was widely considered the best player in the draft. The Chicago Bears may have even considered using the No. 1 pick on him before they traded it to the Carolina Panthers. However, Carter is starting to fall down draft boards.
On March 1, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for Carter for his alleged involvement in the fatal car accident of former Georgia teammate Devin Alex Willock. Carter later showed up to his Pro Day having gained nine pounds since the combine and appeared to be out of shape. There’s a lot of work that teams need to do on Carter before they can draft him but teams outside of the top-five picks could have a chance at him. One of the teams that should be doing work on him is the Las Vegas Raiders.
They hold the No. 7 pick in the daft and have a massive need on the defensive line. In a recent mock draft by Pro Football Focus, they predict the Raiders to stay put at No. 7 and select Carter:
It’s still impossible to know how far Carter may fall as a result of his legal situation, but he has a strong case as the most gifted player in this entire class. The Raiders are another team that could look to add a quarterback after striking out in their attempt to trade up to No. 1 overall with the Chicago Bears, but here we’re operating under the assumption they had a particular player in mind and will now wait until 2024 or beyond.
Carter’s 89.1 pass-rush grade in 2022 ranked seventh among FBS interior defenders, and his 91.2 run-defense grade ranked fifth. He’s as good a prospect on the field as we’ve seen since PFF started grading college football in 2014.
McDaniels Addresses Carter Possibility
No matter how much homework a team does on Carter, there’s going to be risk invovled with drafting the defenisve lineman. A team like the Raiders has to be extra careful due to their recent history of drafting players with character concerns. The team can’t afford to use a top-10 draft pick on a player who could cause headaches off the field.
That’s not going to stop Las Vegas from looking into Carter. Head coach Josh McDaniels understands there are character concerns but he’s more interested in getting to the truth of everything over speculating. He was recently asked about the possiblity of drafting Carter and gave some insight.
“The big thing is to really do our work and know the truth of everything,” McDaniels said on March 27 at the 2023 NFL Annual Meeting. “There are a lot of things that can be speculated about that you have to be careful about pinning on somebody.”
Carter ‘Unstoppable’ on the Field
From a football-playing perspective, Carter might be the best player in the entire draft. He could have an instant impact on Sundays as a rookie. He was a bonafide game wrecker in college. Former Georgia teammate Jamon Dumas-Johnson can’t explain how effective Carter is on the field.
“I told y’all he’s different,” Dumas-Johnson said in December, via Dawg Nation. “He’s unstoppable. He’s a different person, a different animal. I’ve never seen anything like him.”
If Carter’s character concerns don’t carry over to the NFL, he could be a superstar player. However, it’s not a guarantee that issues won’t come to light. Some team is going to take a gamble on him and it will either change their franchise or be a wasted pick.
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