2023 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Jalen Carter

2023 NFL Draft Player Previews - Choose Player 2023 NFL Draft Player Previews - Home Devon Achane, RB, Texas A&M Adetomiwa Adebawore, DE, Northwestern Jordan Addison, WR, USC Will Anderson, DE, Alabama Felix Anudike-Uzomah, DE, Kansas State Steve Avila, G, TCU Deonte Banks, CB, Maryland Micah Baskerville, LB, LSU Keeanu Benton, DT, Wisconsin Matthew Bergeron, OT, Syracuse Mekhi Blackmon, CB, USC Kayshon Boutte, WR, LSU Brian Branch, S, Alabama Julius Brents, CB, Kansas State Bryan Bresee, DT, Clemson Chase Brown, RB, Illinois Sydney Brown, S, Illinois Jack Campbell, LB, Iowa Jalen Carter, DT, Georgia Zach Charbonnet, RB, UCLA Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisvile Gervon Dexter, DT, Florida Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina Max Duggan, QB, TCU Jaelyn Duncan, OT, Maryland Zach Evans, RB, Ole Miss Zay Flowers, WR, Boston College Emmanuel Forbes, CB, Notre Dame Isaiah Foskey, DE, Notre Dame Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Alabama Christian Gonzalez, CB, Oregon Derick Hall, OLB, Auburn Jaren Hall, QB, BYU Anton Harrison, OT, Oklahoma Daiyan Henley, LB, Washington State Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee Jalin Hyatt, WR, Tennessee Siaki Ika, DT, Baylor Antonio Johnson, S, Texas A&M Paris Johnson, OT, Ohio State Quentin Johnston, WR, TCU Broderick Jones, G, Georgia Dawand Jones, OT, Ohio State Calijah Kancey, DT, Pittsburgh Dalton Kincaid, TE, Utah Sam LaPorta, TE, Iowa Will Levis, QB, Kentucky Quan Martin, CB, Illinois Cody Mauch, G, North Dakota State Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame Will McDonald, DE, Iowa State Kenny McIntosh, RB, Georgia Tanner McKee, QB, Stanford Kendre Miller, RB, TCU Jonathan Mingo, WR, Ole Miss Cam Mitchell, CB, Northwestern Malachi Moore, S, Alabama Mike Morris, DE, Michigan Wanya Morris, OT, Oklahoma Myles Murphy, DE, Clemson Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon State Zion Nelson, OT, Miami B.J. Ojulari, OLB, LSU Demarvion Overshown, LB, Texas Owen Pappoe, LB, Auburn Jarrett Patterson, C, Notre Dame Clark Phillips, CB, Utah Joey Porter Jr., CB, Penn State Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida Kelee Ringo, CB, Georgia Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas Chris Rodriguez, RB, Kentucky Drew Sanders, LB, Arkansas Noah Sewell, LB, Oregon Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson Peter Skoronski, OT, Northwestern Cam Smith, CB, South Carolina Mazi Smith, DT, Michigan Nolan Smith, DE, Georgia Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Ohio State John Michael Schmitz, C, Minnesota Tyler Steen, OT, Alabama Tyrique Stevenson, CB, Miami C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio State Cedric Tillman, WR, Tennessee Joe Tippman, C, Wisconsin O'Cyrus Torrence, G, Florida Henry To'oTo'o, LB, Alabama Tuli Tuipulotu, DE, USC D.J. Turner, CB, Michigan Lukas Van Ness, DE, Iowa Deuce Vaughn, RB, Kansas State Tyree Wilson, DE, Texas Tech Darnell Washington, TE, Georgia Keion White, DE, Georgia Tech Devon Witherspoon, CB, Illinois Darnell Wright, OT, Tennessee Bryce Young, QB, Alabama

Jalen Carter, 6-3/310 Defensive Tackle Georgia

Jalen Carter Scouting Report
By Charlie Campbell

Strengths:

Incredible athlete

Rare speed; fast interior defensive lineman

Can take over games

Intimidating presence

Dangerous pass rusher

Explosive

Closes on quarterbacks in a hurry

Excellent get-off

Fast feet

Splash plays

Extremely disruptive

Natural pad level

Skilled at shedding blocks

Good pursuit run-defender

Plays with good leverage

Good motor

Instinctive

Awareness

Great twitch

Tough run defender

Strength to shed blocks and flow to the ball

Tons of upside; could get better with experience

Weaknesses:

Did not produce up to his skill set

Poor character

Off-the-field concerns

Doesn’t work hard

Gets winded in games

Conditioning needs to improve

Has a reputation of not loving football

Hand usage could get better

Large mass guards can give him some problems

Summary: Georgia won its first National Championship since 1980 in 2021, led by a legendary defense that possessed some elite prospects for the NFL on the defensive front. Mammoth nose tackle Jordan Davis got a lot of media attention, and fellow tackle Devonte Wyatt received acclaim as well, but some broadcasters hinted that next year’s tackle Jalen Carter was even better those two, as Carter flashed dynamic ability while rotating with those star veterans. Carter recorded 37 tackles and three sacks in a backup role in 2021 and showed a serious skill set to make him a player to watch in 2022.

Carter then totaled 32 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and two passes batted in 2022. The junior missed some time due to a sprained MCL from a dirty hit versus Missouri. In the playoff win over Ohio State, Carter had a fast start, but he faded because he got winded, exposing his lack of conditioning. Carter admitted to the problem after the game and tried to improve his conditioning before the National Championship win over TCU.

As a pass rusher, Carter showed more natural ability to get after the quarterback in 2022 than Jordan Davis or Devonte Wyatt had in 2021. Carter is quick off the ball with excellent first-step quickness. Thanks to his speed, Carter is dangerous to fire his gap and get into the backfield. His speed catches offensive linemen by surprise, and that allows him to often get them on their heels. Carter has a serious burst to close, and he will blast into the backfield.

In spite of his height, Carter plays with excellent leverage. He stays low versus guards and avoids allowing them to get underneath him. Carter has natural strength in his upper and lower body to bull through blockers, showing interior speed to power.



Carter is a tough defender against the run who can hold his ground and cause disruption in the backfield. He regularly pushed through blockers or fired his gap to cause havoc behind the line of scrimmage, leading to a blown up run cleaned up by teammates. With his skill set, Carter is a well-rounded defender who can handle both phases.

Carter could stand to improve his hand usage. Sometimes, he lets his hands go still when locked up with blockers rather than chopping blockers off of him. Large mass can give Carter some issues as well, and in the NFL, he will see large mass guards regularly. Improving his technique to not get pushed or tied up by large mass blockers would help him to be more effective. Carter has a ton of upside, so these points of technique should improve as he gains more experience.

While Carter looks destined to become a top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, multiple team sources say they have makeup concerns about Carter. Team sources said scouts have heard from Georgia that Carter is not a hard worker and believe that he loves football. It is not uncommon with prospects who are supremely talented to fail to be hard workers. They are so physically gifted that things have come easy, so they never had to work exceptionally hard to be elite at college level. However, that changes in the NFL, where teams want players who have a good work ethic and love to play football. Carter has developed a reputation of not being a worker or loving football, so that could rub some franchises the wrong way picking high in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Multiple sources also question why Carter did not produce more when he was so much more talented than the blockers he was going against.

“Carter is gifted no doubt, but I don’t see a Ndamukong Such- or Quinnen Williams-caliber player. He may have similar size, power, and quickness to those two, but they were way more polished and productive with rushing the passer at this point. Carter is not Darrell Russell, Richard Seymour or Albert Haynesworth caliber like some of the talking heads have compared him to.”

For the 2023 NFL Draft, Carter looks like a top-10 pick, and he could be one of the first non-quarterbacks taken. Carter is one of the most talented players in the draft class, but NFL teams did not give him an elite grade because of the work-ethic concerns and lack of production. If he slides to the back half of the top 10, the makeup concerns will be the reason.



Player Comparison: Kawann Short. Carter compares well to a juiced-up version of Kawann Short. However, Short was more productive in college at Purdue than Carter was at Georgia. If Carter works hard, he could be a difference maker and a better version of Short in the NFL.

2023 NFL Draft Player Previews - Choose Player 2023 NFL Draft Player Previews - Home Devon Achane, RB, Texas A&M Adetomiwa Adebawore, DE, Northwestern Jordan Addison, WR, USC Will Anderson, DE, Alabama Felix Anudike-Uzomah, DE, Kansas State Steve Avila, G, TCU Deonte Banks, CB, Maryland Micah Baskerville, LB, LSU Keeanu Benton, DT, Wisconsin Matthew Bergeron, OT, Syracuse Mekhi Blackmon, CB, USC Kayshon Boutte, WR, LSU Brian Branch, S, Alabama Julius Brents, CB, Kansas State Bryan Bresee, DT, Clemson Chase Brown, RB, Illinois Sydney Brown, S, Illinois Jack Campbell, LB, Iowa Jalen Carter, DT, Georgia Zach Charbonnet, RB, UCLA Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisvile Gervon Dexter, DT, Florida Josh Downs, WR, North Carolina Max Duggan, QB, TCU Jaelyn Duncan, OT, Maryland Zach Evans, RB, Ole Miss Zay Flowers, WR, Boston College Emmanuel Forbes, CB, Notre Dame Isaiah Foskey, DE, Notre Dame Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Alabama Christian Gonzalez, CB, Oregon Derick Hall, OLB, Auburn Jaren Hall, QB, BYU Anton Harrison, OT, Oklahoma Daiyan Henley, LB, Washington State Hendon Hooker, QB, Tennessee Jalin Hyatt, WR, Tennessee Siaki Ika, DT, Baylor Antonio Johnson, S, Texas A&M Paris Johnson, OT, Ohio State Quentin Johnston, WR, TCU Broderick Jones, G, Georgia Dawand Jones, OT, Ohio State Calijah Kancey, DT, Pittsburgh Dalton Kincaid, TE, Utah Sam LaPorta, TE, Iowa Will Levis, QB, Kentucky Quan Martin, CB, Illinois Cody Mauch, G, North Dakota State Michael Mayer, TE, Notre Dame Will McDonald, DE, Iowa State Kenny McIntosh, RB, Georgia Tanner McKee, QB, Stanford Kendre Miller, RB, TCU Jonathan Mingo, WR, Ole Miss Cam Mitchell, CB, Northwestern Malachi Moore, S, Alabama Mike Morris, DE, Michigan Wanya Morris, OT, Oklahoma Myles Murphy, DE, Clemson Luke Musgrave, TE, Oregon State Zion Nelson, OT, Miami B.J. Ojulari, OLB, LSU Demarvion Overshown, LB, Texas Owen Pappoe, LB, Auburn Jarrett Patterson, C, Notre Dame Clark Phillips, CB, Utah Joey Porter Jr., CB, Penn State Anthony Richardson, QB, Florida Kelee Ringo, CB, Georgia Bijan Robinson, RB, Texas Chris Rodriguez, RB, Kentucky Drew Sanders, LB, Arkansas Noah Sewell, LB, Oregon Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson Peter Skoronski, OT, Northwestern Cam Smith, CB, South Carolina Mazi Smith, DT, Michigan Nolan Smith, DE, Georgia Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Ohio State John Michael Schmitz, C, Minnesota Tyler Steen, OT, Alabama Tyrique Stevenson, CB, Miami C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio State Cedric Tillman, WR, Tennessee Joe Tippman, C, Wisconsin O'Cyrus Torrence, G, Florida Henry To'oTo'o, LB, Alabama Tuli Tuipulotu, DE, USC D.J. Turner, CB, Michigan Lukas Van Ness, DE, Iowa Deuce Vaughn, RB, Kansas State Tyree Wilson, DE, Texas Tech Darnell Washington, TE, Georgia Keion White, DE, Georgia Tech Devon Witherspoon, CB, Illinois Darnell Wright, OT, Tennessee Bryce Young, QB, Alabama

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