Jalen Carter struggles at Georgia's Pro Day, reportedly doesn't finish drills
Jalen Carter dealt with cramping muscles and heavily breathing that caused him to not finish his position drills on Wednesday at Georgia’s Pro Day.
He also weighed in 9 pounds heavier than at the NFL Combine, as ESPN’s Mark Schlabach reported that the defensive lineman weighed 323 pounds. Carter worked out in front of scouts and coaches from all 32 NFL teams in Georgia’s indoor facility. Three head coaches — the Falcons’ Arthur Smith, Bears’ Matt Eberflus and Steelers’ Mike Tomlin — were in attendance.
He opted to do only position drills and didn’t participate in other aspects of the workout, including the 40-yard dash, cone drills and other physical tests.
This appears to be another hit to Carter’s draft stock as he was once thought to be in the mix to be the No. 1 overall pick. Carter was arrested for his alleged role in a Jan. 15 car wreck in Athens that killed Georgia offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart was at the Pro Day, and told Schlabach about Carter’s performance on the field.
“I can speak to the competitive character of the young man,” Smart told ESPN. “I got to see it every day in practice and every day in games. It shows tremendous committed character to have two injuries that you could have quit playing [but came back]. He could have sat out the rest of the year.
“He wanted to come back. He wanted to win football games. One of the greatest traits Jalen has is his teammates, his brothers. He endears himself to his teammates and wanted to come back for those guys.”
Not a good look for one who should’ve been a Top 10 pick.
A lot on his mind, a lot on his feet and knees.
Sounds like a lot on his plate that went into his mouth too.
Say what you like and make jokes about his eating habits, but couldn’t nobody stop him. When he played he was unstoppable!!!!!!!
If conditioning was in question. It might be because INJURY kept him out 75% of the season!!!!
PS. Go ahead and be dumb enough to pass on the top player in the draft!!!!
Negan
Dude is losing millions by the week, this seems very Isiah Wilson-ish
A little bit of freedom + a little bit of walking money = a lot of trouble
This is a true statement. I just made the same observation. A little freedom and a lot of money (his agent advances plus NIL money) can cause problems for a young man who isn’t used to experiencing either.
If it’s the case of Carter wanting to party like a rock star off advances from an agent, I hope Carter bankrupts the agent.
I would say Carter’s Pro Day raised red flags more so than saying “more questions were raised than answered“ (the take from a Dawgnation article.)
Carter is only 2 months removed from playing in the NC game and the 2022/2023 season and he’s already 30lbs heavier and unable to complete basic drills, cramping, out of breath? Then add in the legal issues.
Unless Carter is dealing with an injury it means he is laying around every day and getting blasted without giving a single thought to his next steps in life, being a professional athlete. Considered in the context of former NFL draftees like Johnny Manzel, Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, Ricky Williams, Isiah Wilson etc. should a team even spend a draft pick on Carter? Potential aside, who wants to draft and paying signing bonus and guaranteed money to a rehab project?
I hope Carter is dealing with an injury or illness that he has wanted to keep private
One of these is not like the others. Ricky Williams had an 11 year career where he rushed for 10,000 yards and 66 TDs, including five 1000 yard seasons and a Pro Bowl/All-Pro season. And this was back when NFL teams used to actually run the ball, meaning that his stats today would have had him in 6 Pro Bowls.
Borderline Pro Football Hall of Fame numbers. (Indeed there are RBs in the HoF with less than 10,000 yards.) The only reason why he isn’t in the NFL Hall of Fame is because of issues staying healthy: he only started more than 10 games in a season like 4 times. Plus Miami running him 800 times in two seasons on a team with no passing game during the brief part of his career when he was consistently healthy wound up shortening it.
Beyond injury issues – some of which were due to overuse – Williams had two problems. The first was Mike Ditka trading all of his picks to get him. Not Williams’ fault, but it caused him to enter the NFL with a stigma that he never lived down. (Also, the picks lost in that draft kept the Saints from building an actual team around him. And Ditka wasting even more of the picks that he had left on bad players didn’t help matters.) The second was hiring a VERY inexperienced agent who negotiated the worst contract in pro sports history. Seriously. It was an incentive-based contract where only the minimum salary was guaranteed. Yes had Williams reached the incentives the payout would have been huge – one of the biggest in history in fact – BUT WILLIAMS WOULD HAVE HAD TO BREAK THE NFL CAREER RUSHING RECORD TO REACH ALL THE INCENTIVES. And in any year that he didn’t reach the extremely high incentive threshold? League minimum. Williams went into a funk – possibly a literal depression – over that contract and then had to fight to force his way out of New Orleans to sign a better one. By that time half his career earning potential was gone and he never got that money back. But yes, his contract dispute and the tactics that he used to get out of New Orleans harmed his reputation too (the media was a good bit more hostile to athletes that weren’t quarterbacks or Michael Jordan back then).
So yeah, Ricky Williams doesn’t belong on a list that includes Ryan Leaf. Not even close.
You are correct, I had Ricky Williams confused with somebody else
Draft stock falling faster than the stock market, unfortunately. Get it together, JC! Pulling for you.
That’s it – Uncle Joe is Carters agent!
And Hunter is Carter’s personal assistant and booking agent
ho’s and crack as far as the eyes can see!
It looks like Carter is distracted. After what happened, a teammate and a young staffer’s deaths, it’s understandable.
It may take him some time to get over it. A change of scenery (new town) and the rigors of training camp may be what he needs. Best of luck to Carter.