Steelers don't need to bother scouting this prospect anymore
The Pittsburgh Steelers are known to be fond of prospects that come from the Georgia Bulldogs, with George Pickens being the latest testament to that theory. This year is no different, as they have already scheduled a visit with of the nation's best corners. But after some recent news, even if they wanted to try […]
The Pittsburgh Steelers are known to be fond of prospects that come from the Georgia Bulldogs, with George Pickens being the latest testament to that theory.
This year is no different, as they have already scheduled a visit with of the nation's best corners. But after some recent news, even if they wanted to try and draft who many believe to be the best player in the draft by way of Jalen Carter, that option is surely off the table following some recent comments.
Per his agent Drew Rosenhaus, Carter is declining to meet with any team that holds a pick outside of the top 10.
Daniel Jeremiah is the lead draft analyst for NFL Network. He has had Carter in the top five of his overall big board throughout the entire pre-draft process.
He reiterated his ranking today on the Pat McAfee Show, where he also addressed Carter's reluctance to meet with any team selecting outside of the top 10.
McAfee opened the dialogue regarding this situation saying:
"If you watch his film, isn't there a chance you should maybe meet with a lot of people to see if somebody maybe wants to trade into the top 10 to come get him?" Asked McAfee. "Or is this just standard operating procedure? And this is what people normally do?"
To which Daniel Jeremiah replied:
"I think normally when decisions like this get made, it's because you have a backstop, you know, like there's somebody that's given you assurances, like this is where the where the slide ends, you're not getting past us, and you can trust that information," said Jeremiah.
"Now, I don't know who that is, but I'm guessing just by looking at all the factors involved, that the Philadelphia Eagles having Jordan Davis, a former teammate of his, having Nakobe Dean, another former teammate of his, as being interested as a team that's pass rush obsessed."
Jeremiah added further context to the Eagles being the absolute end of Carter's potential slide, saying:
"You know, they pick 10, so when I heard that he wasn't meeting teams outside of 10, I'm like he's got a backstop somewhere in the top 10. And you know, the Eagles would be my educated guess on that one," said Jeremiah.
Now the Steelers were likely never going to be in the running for Carter. But after recent off-the-field incidents, teams have real character concerns about the talented defender.
That being said, I firmly believe the Steelers would draft Carter without hesitation should he fall.
But that scenario is now even more unlikely, given both Rosenhaus's and Jeremiah's comments.
Mike Tomlin's self-fulfilling prophecy still reins true, as he once told Chase Young:
"I don't ever want to lose enough games to get a guy like you."
