http://www.bengals.c...8b-3da2204b2765

GUYS TO WATCH: Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has been overseeing an impressive camp and he’s been getting some interesting play from veteran linebacker Chris Carter.
The 6-1, 240-pound Carter, a fifth round pick of the 2011 Stealers, has played 33 NFL games, three for the Bengals late last season. A linebacker who was a college defensive end, Carter has been virtually unblockable this camp pass rushing off the edge.
“I told (Carter) in the meeting this morning he’s got a chance,” Gunether said. “He’s got some juice off the edge. He’s got good bend. If he continues to play at this level, I’ll put him against some of the first-team tackles (in the preseason games), if he continues to improve he’s got a chance.”
But where do you put him? He’s been a 3-4 backer and he’s trying to adjust to the WILL spot. There are too many defensive linemen to stash him on the 53-man roster there and would he be able to play backer well enough to be what is probably one of the six?
“Where he has value of us is in the rush,” Guenther said. “If we could get (Carter) to learn a linebacker in case someone goes down, he could go in and be both things.”
Carter could conceivably do what another former Stealers outside backer did for the Bengals in 2013 when they put James Harrison as an outside linebacker in base and pass-rushing end in nickel. Except Harrison didn’t rush as much as he probably thought he was going to do and probably played more backer than he thought.
“The more of those guys you can swing in there on Sundays the better you’re going to be,” Guenther said.


This guy has great speed (4.62 forty),quickness (6.88 three cone drill), explosiveness (36 inch vertica), and strength (27 bench reps). He was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 when he had 11 sacks, 16 TFL, and 4 FF. He has bounced around the NFL for a few years now so I don't expect him to suddenly become a star. But then again look at what Dan Skuta was able to do when he finally found the right system for him in San Francisco.

I doubt Carter becomes a star, but the bottom rung of our LB corps is wide open. And you know a guy like this could be great on special teams. So I wouldn't be shocked to see him make the team and play very limited snaps as a pass rush specialist.

(08-09-2015, 03:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: http://www.bengals.c...8b-3da2204b2765

GUYS TO WATCH: Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has been overseeing an impressive camp and he’s been getting some interesting play from veteran linebacker Chris Carter.
The 6-1, 240-pound Carter, a fifth round pick of the 2011 Stealers, has played 33 NFL games, three for the Bengals late last season. A linebacker who was a college defensive end, Carter has been virtually unblockable this camp pass rushing off the edge.
“I told (Carter) in the meeting this morning he’s got a chance,” Gunether said. “He’s got some juice off the edge. He’s got good bend. If he continues to play at this level, I’ll put him against some of the first-team tackles (in the preseason games), if he continues to improve he’s got a chance.”
But where do you put him? He’s been a 3-4 backer and he’s trying to adjust to the WILL spot. There are too many defensive linemen to stash him on the 53-man roster there and would he be able to play backer well enough to be what is probably one of the six?
“Where he has value of us is in the rush,” Guenther said. “If we could get (Carter) to learn a linebacker in case someone goes down, he could go in and be both things.”
Carter could conceivably do what another former Stealers outside backer did for the Bengals in 2013 when they put James Harrison as an outside linebacker in base and pass-rushing end in nickel. Except Harrison didn’t rush as much as he probably thought he was going to do and probably played more backer than he thought.
“The more of those guys you can swing in there on Sundays the better you’re going to be,” Guenther said.


This guy has great speed (4.62 forty),quickness (6.88 three cone drill), explosiveness (36 inch vertica), and strength (27 bench reps).  He was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 when he had 11 sacks, 16 TFL, and 4 FF.  He has bounced around the NFL for a few years now so I don't expect him to suddenly become a star.  But then again look at what Dan Skuta was able to do when he finally found the right system for him in San Francisco.

I doubt Carter becomes a star, but the bottom rung of our LB corps is wide open.  And you know a guy like this could be great on special teams.  So I wouldn't be shocked to see him make the team and play very limited snaps as a pass rush specialist.

This message should read loud and clear to Lamur.  The SAM backer position is not a certainty for you.  Our SAM is limited in snaps, anyways, and he could come in for pass rushing plays.  I haven't seen that much about him, but I sure like the sound of what I'm hearing.  Especially because a rush-end LB is something this team seemingly hasn't been about to find for some time. 

With Nico looking good disrupting the backfield this summer, it'll be a good position to watch during the preseason. Lamur should fighting for his spot.

Nice article on Carter. We see so much about Dawson, Hawk, Rey, Mau, and Burfict that some of the other LBs just get lost in translation. I'll be following him a little closer now. In the scheme of things, Carter does bring some experience in playing on Sundays. Like Roach, Carter just flies under the radar and does what is asked of him. I'm beginning to see an upside to our LB corp. Lets see what they look like in pre-season.

We need a SAM linebacker and a speed rusher so he might be a nice addition if he can prove himself.

It would be great if he could fill the role of a 3rd down edge rush specialist. We don't have an established guy like that on the team. How he plays against NFL starting caliber OTs in the preseason will be telling.

(08-10-2015, 12:45 AM)J24 Wrote: We need a SAM linebacker and a speed rusher so he might be a nice addition if he can prove himself.

If he proves he can get to the QB, they will find a place for him.

Never before have I seen such a large fight between so many mediocre players.

Lamur, Carter, Johnson, Porter, DiManche and Flowers are battling for the vaunted #6 LB spot behind Burfict, Maualuga, Rey, Hawk and Dawson.

And Carter is impressing and Flowers is impressing and DiManche is impressing....

Then the season will come and whoever wins that spot won't even play on defense.

I remember the same thing happened when we were on hard knocks. They were playing up DiManche big time and by the end, I was rooting for him to make the team and impact how we play.

Then he gets the call, screams into his pillow.....and then we never see him on the field the entire season.

Now, granted, guys will see the field more if there are injuries.

But LB isn't like DL, where there is a very clear rotation. You only typically need 2 linebackers in 66% of your plays, and 3 in the other 33%.

Unless one of them is a high potential player who would be picked up real quick if we didn't sign him, I'd just take the guy who plays ST the best.

Like...keeping Carter. Do you really think he'd even be active on game days? You can't use him in a pass rush package if he is deactivated every game.

And if we don't keep him, where's he gonna go? I don't know if he's practice squad eligible, but even if he isn't, no one is signing him if we release him. He's been in the league for 5 years now and has 19 career tackles. No one is gonna sign him based on a few training camp articles.

He'll be sitting on the street so, if we do get injuries to the LB group, we can just go over and pick him up and it'll be as if he never left.

These fluff articles can be truly exhausting sometimes.

(08-09-2015, 03:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: http://www.bengals.c...8b-3da2204b2765

GUYS TO WATCH: Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has been overseeing an impressive camp and he’s been getting some interesting play from veteran linebacker Chris Carter.
The 6-1, 240-pound Carter, a fifth round pick of the 2011 Stealers, has played 33 NFL games, three for the Bengals late last season. A linebacker who was a college defensive end, Carter has been virtually unblockable this camp pass rushing off the edge.
“I told (Carter) in the meeting this morning he’s got a chance,” Gunether said. “He’s got some juice off the edge. He’s got good bend. If he continues to play at this level, I’ll put him against some of the first-team tackles (in the preseason games), if he continues to improve he’s got a chance.”
But where do you put him? He’s been a 3-4 backer and he’s trying to adjust to the WILL spot. There are too many defensive linemen to stash him on the 53-man roster there and would he be able to play backer well enough to be what is probably one of the six?
“Where he has value of us is in the rush,” Guenther said. “If we could get (Carter) to learn a linebacker in case someone goes down, he could go in and be both things.”
Carter could conceivably do what another former Stealers outside backer did for the Bengals in 2013 when they put James Harrison as an outside linebacker in base and pass-rushing end in nickel. Except Harrison didn’t rush as much as he probably thought he was going to do and probably played more backer than he thought.
“The more of those guys you can swing in there on Sundays the better you’re going to be,” Guenther said.


This guy has great speed (4.62 forty),quickness (6.88 three cone drill), explosiveness (36 inch vertica), and strength (27 bench reps).  He was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 when he had 11 sacks, 16 TFL, and 4 FF.  He has bounced around the NFL for a few years now so I don't expect him to suddenly become a star.  But then again look at what Dan Skuta was able to do when he finally found the right system for him in San Francisco.

I doubt Carter becomes a star, but the bottom rung of our LB corps is wide open.  And you know a guy like this could be great on special teams.  So I wouldn't be shocked to see him make the team and play very limited snaps as a pass rush specialist.

It appears he is more of a special teams player who is a pass rush specialist than a LB right now.

I hope he can learn to be a 3 down LB, my fear is he won't.

Carter fits what the Bengals have searched for in a SAM since Marvin became head coach.
He would be competing with Dimanche for SAM depth.

I think that with Burfict staying at least on PUP, that gives one spot for a fringe LB to make the roster. Possibly two if Lamur or VRey were to get the boot. That last spot is between Carter, Dimanche, Flowers, Nico Johnson, and Porter.

Depending on what the Bengals are looking for in the final LB spot, they might go with Nico. He's a traditional MIKE with the ability to stop the run. Coming out of Alabama, he was also given a plus for being able to cover RBs and TEs.

Flowers is very fast, but how well does he stop the run? He has bulked up to 250 lbs, which should help his chances at SAM. He is a converted safety and isn't as savvy when it comes to pass rushing.

Dimanche is very similar to Carter, but has experience in the system and the coaches know what he brings.

Porter's chances are slim now since he hasn't been able to stay on the field, but he has the skill set of a LB with position versatility, pass rush, and coverage ability.

I like what Carter brings, but he'll need to have a good showing in the preseason games to earn that final LB spot.

(08-10-2015, 12:09 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Carter fits what the Bengals have searched for in a SAM since Marvin became head coach.
He would be competing with Dimanche for SAM depth.

I think that with Burfict staying at least on PUP, that gives one spot for a fringe LB to make the roster. Possibly two if Lamur or VRey were to get the boot. That last spot is between Carter, Dimanche, Flowers, Nico Johnson, and Porter.

Depending on what the Bengals are looking for in the final LB spot, they might go with Nico. He's a traditional MIKE with the ability to stop the run. Coming out of Alabama, he was also given a plus for being able to cover RBs and TEs.

Flowers is very fast, but how well does he stop the run? He has bulked up to 250 lbs, which should help his chances at SAM. He is a converted safety and isn't as savvy when it comes to pass rushing.

Dimanche is very similar to Carter, but has experience in the system and the coaches know what he brings.

Porter's chances are slim now since he hasn't been able to stay on the field, but he has the skill set of a LB with position versatility, pass rush, and coverage ability.

I like what Carter brings, but he'll need to have a good showing in the preseason games to earn that final LB spot.

I want him to beat out Lamur.  I was very unimpressed with Lamur last season.   We could use a major upgrade there.  I'd love it if Carter was good enough to break into the starting lineup and raise the level of play at that position.

I'm still confused as to why Porter made the 53 man roster injured, just to reinjure himself and go on IR after covering the first kickoff of the first nfl game he played in. What do they see in him? He's never even practiced as far as I can remember.

I was huge on Carter coming out of college, Nico as well. Both could become solid players on defense and special teams.

(08-10-2015, 03:14 PM)jj22 Wrote: I'm still confused as to why Porter made the 53 man roster injured, just to reinjure himself and go on IR after covering the first kickoff of the first nfl game he played in. What do they see in him? He's never even practiced as far as I can remember.

was porter the guy from Uo Texas or was a different linebacker that couldnt stay healthy.

(08-10-2015, 03:25 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: was porter the guy from Uo Texas or was a different linebacker that couldnt stay healthy.

That was Muckelroy. Porter played at A&M, was very good at rushing the passer from the OLB spot in a 3-4, forcing comparisons to Von Miller (who was his predecessor on that team). His senior year, the defense was changed to a 4-3 and Porter was moved to the WILL, tasked with much more coverage responsibility (which is did well in).

(08-10-2015, 08:55 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Never before have I seen such a large fight between so many mediocre players.

Lamur, Carter, Johnson, Porter, DiManche and Flowers are battling for the vaunted #6 LB spot behind Burfict, Maualuga, Rey, Hawk and Dawson.

And Carter is impressing and Flowers is impressing and DiManche is impressing....

Then the season will come and whoever wins that spot won't even play on defense.

I remember the same thing happened when we were on hard knocks. They were playing up DiManche big time and by the end, I was rooting for him to make the team and impact how we play.

Then he gets the call, screams into his pillow.....and then we never see him on the field the entire season.

Now, granted, guys will see the field more if there are injuries.

But LB isn't like DL, where there is a very clear rotation. You only typically need 2 linebackers in 66% of your plays, and 3 in the other 33%.

Unless one of them is a high potential player who would be picked up real quick if we didn't sign him, I'd just take the guy who plays ST the best.

Like...keeping Carter. Do you really think he'd even be active on game days? You can't use him in a pass rush package if he is deactivated every game.

And if we don't keep him, where's he gonna go? I don't know if he's practice squad eligible, but even if he isn't, no one is signing him if we release him. He's been in the league for 5 years now and has 19 career tackles. No one is gonna sign him based on a few training camp articles.

He'll be sitting on the street so, if we do get injuries to the LB group, we can just go over and pick him up and it'll be as if he never left.

These fluff articles can be truly exhausting sometimes.

Yeah.  I remember reading the same crap about an UDFA that the Bengals were "so impressed with how quickly he is learning how to call the defense" and how the coaches are getting through to him.  It is all fluff.

I think his name was Burfict.

(08-10-2015, 08:07 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: Yeah.  I remember reading the same crap about an UDFA that the Bengals were "so impressed with how quickly he is learning how to call the defense" and how the coaches are getting through to him.  It is all fluff.

I think his name was Burfict.

Yea, and all 6th round QBs become Tom Brady too.

And beyond the obvious point that there will always be exceptions, I'd like to point out that Burfict was a highly regarded player in college. First round pick for most of the off season. But he had a character based issue that made people not want to deal with him.

Carter has been in the league for 4 years, has not caught on anywhere and was not a highly regarded player coming out of college that fell for other reasons.

the two situations have, almost, nothing to do with each other.

(08-10-2015, 08:35 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Yea, and all 6th round QBs become Tom Brady too.

And beyond the obvious point that there will always be exceptions, I'd like to point out that Burfict was a highly regarded player in college. First round pick for most of the off season. But he had a character based issue that made people not want to deal with him.

Carter has been in the league for 4 years, has not caught on anywhere and was not a highly regarded player coming out of college that fell for other reasons.

the two situations have, almost, nothing to do with each other.

I was merely trying to provide some optimism for him. 

Carter has played 3-4 LB in his NFL career.  What if he is what the Bengals were hoping for in Moch?   As far as not being a highly regarded college player goes, any player that has 11 sacks and 17 tfl in his final season has to have something going for them.  He was drafted in Rd 5 by putzburg.  A former college DE, he is being asked to learn a completely different position.  I would love to see him catch on as a backup SAM here and be able to provide some much needed rush on the edge for passing downs. 

(08-09-2015, 03:07 PM)fredtoast Wrote: http://www.bengals.c...8b-3da2204b2765

GUYS TO WATCH: Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has been overseeing an impressive camp and he’s been getting some interesting play from veteran linebacker Chris Carter.
The 6-1, 240-pound Carter, a fifth round pick of the 2011 Stealers, has played 33 NFL games, three for the Bengals late last season. A linebacker who was a college defensive end, Carter has been virtually unblockable this camp pass rushing off the edge.
“I told (Carter) in the meeting this morning he’s got a chance,” Gunether said. “He’s got some juice off the edge. He’s got good bend. If he continues to play at this level, I’ll put him against some of the first-team tackles (in the preseason games), if he continues to improve he’s got a chance.”
But where do you put him? He’s been a 3-4 backer and he’s trying to adjust to the WILL spot. There are too many defensive linemen to stash him on the 53-man roster there and would he be able to play backer well enough to be what is probably one of the six?
“Where he has value of us is in the rush,” Guenther said. “If we could get (Carter) to learn a linebacker in case someone goes down, he could go in and be both things.”
Carter could conceivably do what another former Stealers outside backer did for the Bengals in 2013 when they put James Harrison as an outside linebacker in base and pass-rushing end in nickel. Except Harrison didn’t rush as much as he probably thought he was going to do and probably played more backer than he thought.
“The more of those guys you can swing in there on Sundays the better you’re going to be,” Guenther said.


This guy has great speed (4.62 forty),quickness (6.88 three cone drill), explosiveness (36 inch vertica), and strength (27 bench reps).  He was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 when he had 11 sacks, 16 TFL, and 4 FF.  He has bounced around the NFL for a few years now so I don't expect him to suddenly become a star.  But then again look at what Dan Skuta was able to do when he finally found the right system for him in San Francisco.

I doubt Carter becomes a star, but the bottom rung of our LB corps is wide open.  And you know a guy like this could be great on special teams.  So I wouldn't be shocked to see him make the team and play very limited snaps as a pass rush specialist.

Interesting. I love that Geunther is open to such a thing. I think we have been too cautious in the past
with letting our Linebackers rush the passer or using pass rushing Linebackers as Ends. Good to know.

I will be watching for the guy, what is his number again?

(08-10-2015, 08:35 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Yea, and all 6th round QBs become Tom Brady too.

And beyond the obvious point that there will always be exceptions, I'd like to point out that Burfict was a highly regarded player in college. First round pick for most of the off season. But he had a character based issue that made people not want to deal with him.

Carter has been in the league for 4 years, has not caught on anywhere and was not a highly regarded player coming out of college that fell for other reasons.

the two situations have, almost, nothing to do with each other.

That is why I compred him to Dan Skuta instead of Burfict.

Skuta was an undrafted free agent who did nothing in the NFL for 4 years until he changed teams and became a solid starter fro the Forty-niners