Jalen Carter

Pos: DL

School: Georgia

Ht. 6’3″ 

Wt. 314

Games Watched: Kentucky, Ohio State(Bowl), Florida

One Liner: Quick defensive tackle who wins with his athleticism, technique, and functional strength. 

Strengths: 

  • Elite athleticism. Carter combines his explosive nature with his ideal size and length to be a dominant athlete who can wreak havoc with his short area quicks. His athletic ability makes it nearly impossible to block him, with his explosiveness generated from a great first step, or his lateral agility wheeling in from stunts.
  • Very good technique. Carter optimizes his hands throughout his rush, generating shock with great timing and placement while also having great pad leverage. Carter uses these skills to penetrate A and B gaps, making him scheme versatile. Carter also keeps his head up when rushing, flashing signs of potential two gapping success at the next level while already displaying high level 1 gapping prowess.
  • Very good strength. Carter has the pop to win at the POA, and can shed blocks with powerful arms and a strong anchor to hold up against double teams while maintaining good contact balance on zone runs.

Weaknesses:

  • Adequate rush arsenal. While Carter has tools in his rush arsenal, he could benefit from developing this arsenal further and consistently applying some of the moves he flashes like swim moves, tug + pulls and rip moves. 

Overall Assessment: On the field, Jalen Carter is a force to be reckoned with, and lays little to no doubt about the skills and capabilities he has to be a Day 1 force on any defensive line he is a part of. His technique and athleticism allow him to be a scheme versatile player, who can be a 1 gapper or 2 gapper and have success as a patient mirror stepper or as an attacking defensive lineman. His questions about endurance showed up on tape a little bit against Ohio State, but he has a clear motor and “dog” in him to make chase down plays beyond the line of scrimmage and in the backside range of plays. Carter has a big off the field question mark about his maturity and character concerns, but the player on the field is a tremendous upside pick who can be an instant impact for any team selecting him.

Scheme Fit: Scheme versatile defensive tackle who projects best as a 1 gapper for now.

Pick Projection: Top 10

Grade: 7.10