More Ugly Jalen Carter Revelations Make Bears’ Decision Even Better

The Chicago Bears will be connected to Jalen Carter for years to come, whether they like it or not. Plenty of people felt taking the Georgia defensive tackle was worth the risk. He has Hall of Fame physical gifts and was a perfect fit for Matt Eberflus’ Tampa-2 defense as a three-technique. GM Ryan Poles had the golden opportunity when Carter fell to #9 in the 1st round. He passed, trading down with Philadelphia so they could take him instead. Experts were perplexed by the decision considering the Bears’ obvious needs.

However, new information has continued to emerge over the past week that illustrated why Carter was never on the table. The latest comes from Tyler Dunne of Go Long. He talked about the Seattle Seahawks’ draft success over the past calendar year, and the topic of Carter came up. That organization isn’t afraid to take gambles on questionable characters, so why not Carter?

I was told the Seahawks were quite pleased that everybody seemed to view their team as Carter’s most logical landing spot. It was never going to happen. (“Hell no,” one team source said.) A few people made a late push for Carter in the building but, all along, the Seahawks detected polar-opposite football DNA in these two prospects. Nor were they alone. Multiple teams viewed Carter as “unapologetic” through the pre-draft process, one source said.

It gets even worse.

Other teams detected Carter’s general lack of passion throughout the draft process. His love of football never came across in interviews. Not only that, but it doesn’t seem like he was getting huge votes of confidence from teammates or coaches.

When the Philadelphia Eagles selected him ninth overall, a tearful Carter shared an emotional moment with commissioner Roger Goodell.

Those who chatted with Carter directly around the league were perplexed by the scene.

“That’s probably the most emotion that kid has shown his entire life,” one NFC scout said last week. “Or at least since he’s been going through this process — everything going on with his off-field stuff. He couldn’t have gone to a better place. A strong D-Line room and former teammates to keep his ass in check. If he can’t get going there, he deserves to fail. There’s too much gray area. Too many unknowns.”

Carter was mostly emotionless up to that night.

“For mostly everybody,” this scout added. “You really couldn’t feel him out. We never could figure him out.”

Teams picking in the top 10 were justifiably spooked by the fact that teammates and coaches in Georgia rarely went to bat for Carter.

Jalen Carter never had a chance with the Bears.

While they already had plenty of red flags to worry about, the final nail in the coffin likely came at Georgia’s pro day. Carter arrived nine pounds overweight and proceeded to cut the workout short because of cramping and exhaustion. In other words, he tapped out. For Poles and Eberflus, that was tantamount to heresy. By contrast, Darnell Wright was pushed to the max during his workout and never quit. That is what sold them on him. If Carter can’t get himself motivated to go through a simple workout, they can’t trust him to be there late in the 4th quarter when the defense needs a stop.

Maybe Jalen Carter will defy expectations. Thanks to their locker room stacked with veteran leaders, Philadelphia might wake him up. He’s young. Then again, if even Seattle is passing on you, that isn’t a good sign. Their locker room also has plenty of veteran leadership, not to mention a future Hall of Fame head coach. Carter would’ve been their ideal scenario in any normal situation. Still, they said no thanks. It seems Chicago made the correct decision as well.