08-18-2015, 02:24 PM
First, thanks for sharing and reading - I appreciate it!
That's the point of the piece - that no one ever saw him healthy. It's not like now. Let's say a top pick goes down with a career-altering injury in the preseason - there is all kind of material to show how good he was in camp (tweets, vines, camp look-ins, etc.) Back then, there was nothing to show the fans what he was doing in camp.
It's funny - I see the knocks on here that Carter would try to avoid contact at times. This had no place in the story, but every personnel man across the LEAGUE I talked to (and Bengals coaches) loved that about him. They felt he was a smart runner who knew when to preserve his body. They felt it was one of the reasons he would have a long NFL career. It's all about perception for something like that, sure. Adrian Peterson and Walter Payton lowered head to get an extra yard, Barry Sanders didn't. Can't argue the results in either case.
As for his stats, that's kind of the point of this too - of course the stats are bad. It's not about that. I would say Akili Smith is a bust of a pick -- a healthy dude who just couldn't play at all. Carter MAYBE could've played - but injuries took it away from him.
That's the point of the piece - that no one ever saw him healthy. It's not like now. Let's say a top pick goes down with a career-altering injury in the preseason - there is all kind of material to show how good he was in camp (tweets, vines, camp look-ins, etc.) Back then, there was nothing to show the fans what he was doing in camp.
It's funny - I see the knocks on here that Carter would try to avoid contact at times. This had no place in the story, but every personnel man across the LEAGUE I talked to (and Bengals coaches) loved that about him. They felt he was a smart runner who knew when to preserve his body. They felt it was one of the reasons he would have a long NFL career. It's all about perception for something like that, sure. Adrian Peterson and Walter Payton lowered head to get an extra yard, Barry Sanders didn't. Can't argue the results in either case.
As for his stats, that's kind of the point of this too - of course the stats are bad. It's not about that. I would say Akili Smith is a bust of a pick -- a healthy dude who just couldn't play at all. Carter MAYBE could've played - but injuries took it away from him.
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