Jalen Carter's "character concerns" may drop him in 2023 draft after all
Carter is wanted in Georgia for involvement with deadly crash, according to police: Seaside Joe 1458
The Seattle Seahawks hold the number five pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which since the end of the season has been thought to be too low for Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter, projected by many as the best all-around player in the class. As of Wednesday morning, it may no longer be a question of whether pick five is “too low” but if it is “too high” for a prospect who is now wanted by police in Georgia.
Todd McShay’s noted “character concerns” for Carter, a widely-derided note that the ESPN analyst made on Carter’s resume in December as something that would eventually come out, are apparently now rising to the surface.
Jalen Carter was allegedly involved in a street race that killed two people, including teammate Devin Willock and staff member Chandler LeCroy, according to an ESPN report on Wednesday.
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department announced Wednesday that Carter will be arrested for reckless driving and racing. The announcement came hours after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Carter was present at the scene of the Jan. 15 crash and later provided shifting accounts of the wreck to police.
Devin Willock, an offensive lineman for the Bulldogs, and recruiting staff member Chandler LeCroy were killed in what police initially reported as a single-vehicle accident.
Details of the investigation, released Wednesday, cited evidence that Carter and LeCroy were "operating their vehicles in a manner consistent with racing" shortly before the fatal crash.
"The evidence demonstrated that both vehicles switched between lanes, drove in the center turn lane, drove in opposite lanes of travel, overtook other motorists, and drove at high rates of speed, in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other," the police statement said.
Police investigators have determined that "alcohol impairment, racing, reckless driving, and speed were significant contributing factors to the crash."
Of course, now is not a good time to talk about where Carter will be drafted in April, as nobody can even say for sure that Carter will be drafted at all. News and information on Carter’s charges, accountability, responsibility, and the potential outcome of all of this would need to be known before we can even continue to talk about his future in the NFL, the draft, and how the Seattle Seahawks will treat this particular situation.
But I felt it was important for me to write a post about it and for Seahawks fans to be aware of it because now every single mock draft, the NFL Scouting Combine this week, and how Seattle will use the number five pick is deeply imapcted by Wednesday’s news.
It’s also notable that even though McShay’s “character concerns” comments came before the January 15 incident, there’s no doubt that off-field issues will now be the number one talking point for Carter. So far, everything reported on Wednesday is only an allegation, so you and I can’t say that McShay’s sources were “right” about Carter, but what we can say is that he was right about the fact that NFL teams will mostly be assessing if Jalen Carter is someone “we want to bring in the building”.
McShay also made it a point in that ESPN segment to say that Pete Carroll and the Seahawks would be a perfect fit because of his “long history taking guys with questionable character and then developing them.”
He could be right about that too.
Update: The two charges are said to be misdemeanors, according to The Athletic’s Seth Emerson. If this holds true and Carter doesn’t face jail time, we’ve seen teams in the past overlook incidents that don’t result in long suspensions. I’m not saying what teams will or won’t do with Carter, but in the past these situations have been overlooked.
Jalen Carter is my biggest "why is he ranked so high?" prospect in years. He's huge, he's a brick wall, etc. etc., but there are behemoth run stuffers in the draft every year. 9 sacks, 3 batted passes and 13 QB hits in 3 years. That's barely better than an average season for Calijah Kancey. He picked up a QB with one arm. He looks great getting off the bus. He has character questions. Rob Staton pointed out that he's out of shape even in bowl games and Carter even admitted his conditioning was poor. And PFF has him ranked #1 overall.
After being burned to a crisp taking Malik McDowell in the first round and never playing a snap, I doubt PCJS make the mistake of drafting another player that high with maturity/character concerns. The 2022 draft class was a lesson in taking high character guys and I would bet that approach continues.