Gut Checks is a series of one-player articles designed to help fantasy owners understand what to notice–good or bad–when watching specific players. The players in these articles are fantasy prospects–regardless of Average Draft position–that Matt Waldman believes are worth monitoring this year.
Duron Carter’s football career is on trial and the prosecution has a great case. The evidence against Cris Carter’s son is damning:
- Four years, four colleges, nine games total, and no more than a season at each institution.
- A failed tryout with his dad’s team in 2013.
- Coaches and teammates testifying that Carter lacked a work ethic.
- The Colts drafted Carter’s former high school teammate Phillip Dorsett after signing Carter in February.
The star witness for the prosecution has to be former Coffeyville Community College quarterback Cayden Cochran, who according to USA Today’s Mike Garafolo tweeted the following statement about Carter in February 2013: “The team that drafts Duron Carter will get the most lazy, whiny & non-work ethic player the nfl has ever seen. I played w/him. Horrible person & will be a complete cancer to any team on the board.”
The fact that Carter’s character witnesses are his daddy, Chad Johnson and a CFL GM is like clinging to a whale carcass for one’s life in shark-infested waters.
There is hope though. The Colts signed Carter this year and the team sees him as a potential NFL starter. Dorsett and Carter are two different styles of receiver and T.Y. Hilton and Andre Johnson aren’t long-term options for the team. In Carter’s defense, poor academic performance does not correlate to poor NFL performance. And in a most shocking turn of events, Carter defender Chad Johnson has abandoned the Chad Ochocinco shtick and the former NFL receiver is behaving like a man trying to live a future more meaningful and well-intentioned than his recent past.
I watched Carter’s CFL tape earlier this year. It’s difficult to have confidence in him as a long-term prospect, because Carter’s utter lack of consistency from week-to-week will raise caution flags for a guy like me.