By Marvin Moore October 12, 2023
Jalen Carter was the best player in this year’s NFL draft. Yet numerous so-called football experts allowed him to fall to the ninth spot, where the Philadelphia Eagles swooped in to nab the unanimous college All-American. Congrats Howie Roseman.
The dynamic rookie has been so good that his Pro Football Focus overall grade of 91.8 is the best mark they’ve ever given an interior lineman through the first five games of his career. Carter is also the top-graded defensive tackle this season, and his 3.5 sacks have him on pace to shatter Keith Millard’s rookie record for the most sacks by an interior pass rusher.
The 22-year-old was the best player on the field in Week 5 against Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams. He notched two sacks and three solo tackles and often drew double teams in the second half. Incredibly, Carter’s 23 quarterback pressures are tied with the seven-time first-team All-Pro for most among defensive tackles.
Why so many teams opted not to draft Carter is no secret. He was arrested for reckless driving and street racing, resulting in two individuals losing their lives. Several coaches at the University of Georgia also refused to support him during the pre-draft process. Now, teams like the Texans, Seahawks, Raiders, and Panthers must be second-guessing their bad decisions.
Carter is the type of generational talent that comes along once in a decade. He is a game-changer in the mold of Donald and the late Jerome Brown. The Florida native is the leading candidate to claim NFL Rookie of the Year honors and has moved into the conversation for the Defensive Player of the Year prize.
A complete player blessed with extraordinary strength and quickness, Carter tops all defensive tackles with a 20.9 pass-rush win rate. Although some of his college coaches criticized his practice habits, he has drawn rave reviews from his NFL teammates and coaches for his hard work on the gridiron. The defensive stud has silenced the naysayers and is wreaking havoc in opposing backfields.
The racial component of the NFL draft, in which primarily white men evaluate mostly young black men, remains a comedy of errors. White players who get busted for smoking weed – hello, Travis Kelce – are deemed to have made a mistake. Black players caught doing the same thing are considered to have off-field issues. Go figure.
Who can forget the unbelievable draft slide of Randy Moss in 1998? A whopping 20 teams passed on the ultra-talented Marshall wideout due to character and off-field concerns. He finished his career as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Another talented wide receiver, Dez Bryant, fell to the 24th pick because of a “troubled” past. The former Oklahoma State standout averaged 91 catches, over 1,300 receiving yards, and 13 touchdowns from 2012-14. These are just a few examples of how the pre-draft process is a joke.
It’s a system that makes excuses for mediocre quarterbacks like Mitch Trubisky, Zach Wilson, Daniel Jones, and Mac Jones – but questions the character of talented players like Carter, Moss, and Bryant. If white men cannot successfully evaluate young white athletes, how the hell can they evaluate young black athletes? The draft process is a farce, and everyone but the NFL knows it.
Carter is poised to become one of the top defensive tackles in the game’s history. He has the talent to become a future Hall of Famer. But everyone except the so-called football experts already knew this.
