Jalen Carter Remains No. 1 NFL Draft Prospect

NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper still views Jalen Carter as the best overall prospect for this year's draft class.

Jonathan Williams | Mar 21, 2023

Jalen Carter Remains No. 1 NFL Draft Prospect /

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There has been a lot of discussion as of late in regard to where former Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter will fall in this year's NFL draft. Carter was at one point considered an option to go first overall, but after the Chicago Bears traded away their pick and the recent news that broke about Carter, his stock started to fluctuate a little bit.

At least for most, it did. But NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper still views Carter as the best player in this year's class and is of the belief that his stock has not dropped for any NFL teams either. The star Georgia defensive lineman has long been viewed as one of the best defensive players in the country and has seemingly been a lock as a top-10 pick in the draft for the last two years.

"The reality is Carter's stock hasn't dropped in the eyes of NFL teams, and so I'm not dropping him in my rankings. On the field, he is a fantastic prospect. I moved him to No. 1 in my December Big Board update, and he finished the season playing the best ball of his career. He had 12 quarterback pressures in his final three games for the back-to-back national champs. He was fantastic after he returned in late October from missing two games because of a knee issue." - Kiper on Carter

Georgia defensive lineman, Jalen Carter in the 2022 SEC Championship game / Photo by UGAA

Another NFL draft analyst, Todd McShay, also spoke on Carter and had a lot of positive things to say about the young professional prospect. "And the other thing is like with Jalen, specifically, I've spent 95% of my time talking about how great of a player he is on the field. I even emphasize, like, yeah, you might not get in practice what you want to get in practice. But that dude will play his a** off for you," said McShay.

So despite any negative news that has risen to the surface about Carter, it doesn't seem like that will have any effect on where he goes on day one of the draft.

Kiper also went on to rank the top ten prospects at every position, and this is where he had several other former Bulldogs ranked amongst the rest of the prospects:

Jalen Carter, DT: No. 1 overall prospect, No. 1 DT prospect
Nolan Smith, OLB: No. 15 overall prospect, No. 3 OLB prospect
Stetson Bennett, QB: No. 6 QB prospect
Darnell Washington, TE: No. 3 TE prospect
Broderick Jones, OT: No. 2 OT prospect
Warren McClendon, OL: No. 8 G prospect
Kelee Ringo, CB: No. 8 CB prospect
Christopher Smith, S: No. 10 S prospect

The Georgia Bulldogs will once again have a lot of players hear their name called throughout the weekend of the NFL draft, and quite a few of them will hear it sooner rather than later.

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Published Mar 21, 2023

JONATHAN WILLIAMS