Lorenzo Carter: The Human Roll of Duct Tape
ATHENS—Duct tape can help with anything: appliances, pipes, flip flops, you name it. Sure, maybe getting the hood of your car fixed is a good idea, but duct tape can hold it down just fine too.
That’s the beauty of duct tape—its versatility. If something is broken, it can fix it, at least to some extent.
Lorenzo Carter is football's equivalent to a roll of duct tape. The dude can be placed in a majority of situations on a football field and still be effective.
Need him on defense? Easy. Need him to sprint 50 yards and tackle someone on a kickoff? Sure he can. Want him to just block to help get a kick or punt off? He can do that too. In fact, I’m not sure that Carter couldn’t line up on the offensive side of the ball if he really wanted to.
I’ve only mentioned how versatile he is. His flexibility on defense though is what makes him such a unique talent in the 2018 NFL Draft. Think about it—we’re talking about someone who has the physical attributes and skills to play on the defensive line but generally serves as an outside linebacker. He can drop into coverage too, not only as an outside backer but from the secondary as well.
Wait, what? The secondary? Yes, to a degree. Look early in Georgia’s season. Carter filled in at the STAR position at the beginning of the year while Malkom Parrish sat out with an injury. OK, Carter isn’t locking down pro receivers at the next level, but this still shows the ability to play in coverage at a more advanced level than most outside linebackers and almost every defensive end.
You’re going to be hard-pressed to find that kind of ability in any other player, much less a prospect.
Even with all that information on his tape, Carter still had to prove that he can do those things for NFL teams at UGA’s recent Pro Day.
“I’m just showing my versatility out here,” Carter said. “Do position drills, show [NFL teams] that I can make the drops, do good pass-rushing, show them my hands.”
That’s Carter being characteristically modest. His performance Wednesday morning was nothing shy of phenomenal. Even while skipping out on the 40, three-cone drill, and bench, Carter put his enormous athletic ability on full display.
Working defensive line drills, Carter had the quickest step of teammates Davin Bellamy, Trenton Thompson and John Atkins. When Carter hit the dummies in linebacking drills, he looked like Muhammad Ali taking down Sonny Liston. In pass coverage drills, Carter’s long strides consistently got 5-10 yards deeper than Bellamy or Roquan Smith in about the same amount of time. Even his hands were on point as he snagged a low throw with only one hand, earning him a loud “oooooh” from the sea of coaches and scouts watching him.
After a killer combine where he ran a 4.5 40, got a 130-inch broad jump and a 36-vertical jump, Carter electrified once more. That’s not just coming from me, either. His performance was enough to get the New England Patriots’ famously grumpy coach Bill Belichick to murmur a small compliment to Carter. Take that as you will, but I think that’s pretty hard to do.
If Belichick’s admiration doesn’t sell you, don’t worry. Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff liked what he saw too. Dimitroff didn’t refer to Carter by name, but when asked about him, Dimitroff rambled about how important it is to have Carter’s key skill level in the NFL.
“Versatility is key, no question,” Dimitroff said. “You know when we bring players on to our team… they have to do certain things on special teams, they may be getting up the field. There are times when we’re expecting them to drop.”
Some of these NFL team executives are just seeing that versatility now. It isn’t new though. Carter has shown all those skills before, and with pads on.
Like when he flew into the backfield in South Bend to get a crucial strip-sack against Notre Dame.
Or when he spent time in August and September working against slot receivers.
Or when he skied above everyone else to all but secure a victory in Pasadena over the Sooners.
Everyone outside of Georgia is just now starting to catch on to how valuable a player like Carter can be in the NFL. His ability to play all over the field in different situations will give teams something that’s almost impossible to find—a 6-foot-6, 250-pound roll of duct tape.