Marvin Lewis, Mike Zimmer offer stern advice about Jalen Carter

Jalen Carter's NFL Draft stock has plummeted because of on- and off-field issues. Former NFL coaches Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer weighed in.

Jalen Carter, the former Georgia defensive tackle, was one of the most dominant players in recent college football history as he anchored Georgia's legendary defense en route to consecutive national titles. Now, Jalen Carter is a similarly dominant presence in the NFL Draft news cycle, but not for the right reasons.

In February, Carter was arrested for his connection to the car wreck that led to the death of Georgia offensive lineman Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy; police allege that Carter was drag racing with Willock and LeCroy and that when their car flew off the road at 104 miles per hour and crashed into two power poles. This week, Carter underwhelmed at his pro day, showing up nine pounds overweight (323 pounds, up from 314 at last month's NFL Combine) and struggled to complete his position drills as he cramped and looked visibly fatigued. Once considered a generational interior lineman prospect, Carter might no longer even be a top ten pick, as his draft stock has been waylaid by a concerning cocktail of personal and performance questions.

In a recent conversation with NFL Draft website The 33rd Team, former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and former Vikings coach Mike Zimmer discussed how a team must have full organizational buy-in from ownership, the front office and the coaching staff if they want to pick Jalen Carter and ensure that he can succeed.

“Wherever you pick him, wherever he ends up,” Lewis said, “there's going to be the [main] headline and then there's going to be the sub-headline [about his various issues] and you have to be okay with that [if you want to pick him].”

“Once you pick him,” Zimmer added, “he's yours. So you gotta make darn sure he's gonna be what you hope he's gonna be.”

The NFL Draft will be held in Kansas City, Missouri from April 27th-29th. In the most recent ClutchPoints' NFL mock draft from last week, Jalen Carter was projected to go to the Seattle Seahawks with the fifth pick, but even this may prove to be optimistic since it was published before his pro day debacle.