By Justin Porreca
Staff Writer
Duron Carter may be granted the ultimate opportunity, every football player’s dream, to play in the NFL. Carter, 23, has been living in the enormous shadow of his Hall of Fame father, Cris Carter, who is considered one of the greatest receivers in NFL history, but is looking to create his own lasting legacy.
The younger Carter has also followed the same sad, controversial path his father walked in in his final years at Ohio State and early years in Philadelphia. The elder Carter broke an NCAA rule by signing with an agent in his senior season at Ohio State, which resulted in him being suspended for the season. When the Philadelphia Eagles drafted the elder Carter in 1987, he was productive, but struggled with serious drug and alcohol abuse. The elder Carter suffered from cocaine and alcohol addiction and that resulted in Eagles head coach, Buddy Ryan, cutting him from the team in 1990. Carter then landed in Minnesota and the rest is history.
As for the younger Carter, he’s closely followed the same path of self-destruction his father went down from 1987 to 1990. Like his father, the younger Carter opted to take his talents to his father’s alma mater, Ohio State. However, the younger Carter could not replicate the same success his father had there. Carter was put on academic suspension at the end of his freshman year, which caused him to miss the Rose Bowl.
Due to his poor academic standing at Ohio State, Carter had to transfer to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, where he would get back on track academically and would thrive as a player.
After one year at Coffeyville, Carter transferred to Alabama. His tenure at Alabama was short and forgettable. Carter missed the entire 2011 season because of a technicality with his transcript, which resulted in him being deemed academically ineligible. Carter would also fail a drug test in 2011 for marijuana use, and another one before the 2012 season for, again, marijuana use.
After being suspended a second time for drug use, Carter would transfer to Florida Atlantic, but was ruled ineligible to play, which would then put an end to his non-existant college career.
Carter would declare for the 2013 NFL draft, but went undrafted and was not signed by any of the 32 NFL teams as an undrafted free agent. He was invited to try-out for his father’s former team, the Minnesota Vikings, and the New Orleans Saints, but they did not give him a contract. This resulted in the younger Carter taking his immense talents to the Canadian Football League.
Carter would go on to play two seasons for the Montreal Alouettes. In his first season with the Alouettes, Carter had 49 receptions, 909 receiving yards, and five touchdowns in 11 games. This season, Carter had 75 catches, for 1,030 yards, and seven touchdowns in a full season.
Despite his immense, untapped potential and being physically gifted (giant hands and a 6’4” frame), Carter still has certain parts of his game he needs to polish.
In a CFL playoff game this season, the best corner in the CFL, Delvin Breaux, locked up Carter. Breaux held Carter to only three catches for 25 yards, and this was due to Carter being unable to get off the line of scrimmage. Breaux’s bump ‘n’ run coverage flustered Carter. In order for Carter to have a smooth transition to the NFL, where the cornerbacks are even more talented and where bump ‘n’ run coverage and jamming defenders at the line of scrimmage is a successful and popular technique, he will need to bulk up and improve his route running ability.
Carter has made various trips to NFL teams during the month of January (Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, and Indianapolis Colts), but here are several ideal and perfect landing spots for Duron Carter:
Cleveland Browns
After the disappointing news delivered that Josh Gordon will be suspended for the entire 2015 season, the Browns are in desperate need for a playmaking wide receiver. In addition to the resounding blow to their wide receiver depth with the loss of Josh Gordon, the other starting wide receiver, Miles Austin, is an aging, unproductive free agent.
Even with Gordon and Austin, the Browns still lacked serious talent and depth at the wide receiver position. Their only productive wide receiver last season was Andrew Hawkins (63 receptions, 824 yards, and two touchdowns), but Hawkins is traditionally a slot receiver.
Cleveland currently has only three wide receivers under contract for next season, Andrew Hawkins, Travis Benjamin, and Taylor Gabriel. These receivers are not definitive number one or number two wide outs. Cleveland desperately needs to bolster their wide receiver depth with talent and playmakers so Johnny Manziel can thrive, and signing Duron Carter would be a good start.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs have not had a wide receiver catch a touchdown since Week 14 of the 2013 season. Dwayne Bowe, who made $11 million this season and is the number one option for the Chiefs, has been completely unproductive the last two seasons. Being the only buyable wide receiver threat for the Chiefs and the only option for Alex Smith, besides Jamal Charles, Bowe typically draws double coverage. The Chiefs desperately need a second playmaker to free up Bowe from double coverage, enhance the passing game, and give Alex Smith more weapons to work with, because zero receiving touchdowns, potentially for a second straight season, is a not a recipe for success in the NFL.
Bringing in Duron Carter, another big, red-zone threat wide receiver will boost the passing game of the Kansas City Chiefs. Carter will take away the double coverage that Bowe sees on a week-to-week basis. Plus, bringing Carter in will reduce the red-zone workload of Jamal Charles, because Alex Smith will have the capability to throw fade routes to the big wide out.
Indianapolis Colts
The potential destination and leading candidate to land the services of Duron Carter is the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts would also be the ideal place for Carter to take his talents to, because they have a superstar quarterback in Andrew Luck who can get him the ball.
It was made evident this season that the Colts are in need of a solid number two wide receiver. T.Y. Hilton shouldered the load for the Colts this season at the wide receiver position, but this hampered the Colts tremendously. When the Patriots held Hilton in check twice this season, Luck had no other weapon to turn to. If the Colts want to make it to the Super Bowl and not have a repeat of what happened to them in the AFC championship game, they need another solid weapon. Granted the Colts have other issues on the offensive and defensive side they need to address to be a Super Bowl team, the offense and team revolves around Andrew Luck and he needs more weapons to get the ball to.
The Colts are also losing depth at wide receiver with Hakeem Nicks and Reggie Wayne being free agents and likely not coming back. Bringing in Carter will add depth, youth, talent, and a red-zone threat to a struggling wide receiving core.
Carter will be eligible to sign with any NFL franchise on February 10th and will likely not stay on the market for very long.
