CFZ Mazi Smith vs Jalen Carter - As a Prospect

Pass2Run

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There are a couple areas where Mazi Smith beats Jalen Carter, who was drafted much higher than Smith.

First, risk.

The biggest risk for Jalen Carter, in my opinion, is the video involving him in the crash. He has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor. However, more serious charges could come later. And quite honestly, they should and probably will.

"Although he’s charged with a misdemeanor. Now, once it gets over to the solicitor’s office or to the district attorney’s office, it can be upgraded to a felony,” attorney Patterson told WSBTV. "And it is no doubt that if he was not a University of Georgia football player, he probably would be charged with felony vehicular homicide."

Depending on how hard media coverage presses the local solicitor's office, it's possible Carter may never even see the field. It's true. If he was not a University of Georgia football player, he would likely be charged with vehicular homicide. The only reason they've gotten away with it, is because the media hasn't pressed them on it, or fought too hard to make this a story. But it is a story that would be important to the public interest. And it has the potential to gain traction and wheels to travel. That was my number 1 reason for not taking Jalen Carter too seriously: I didn't think the Cowboys would do it, because hopefully they had been advised of the legal implications and what happened. The video looks bad. And the news press will determine his fate.

Second, and probably less important, is RAS. Mazi at 9.99 vs. Carter at around 9. Down the line, with coaching and experience, and getting even stronger, Smith still has potential to be someone like Poe while Carter likely still hasn't gotten over his maturity hump, much like our Sam Williams. In any case, the more I learn about Smith, the more I like his potential on our team. Kudos to the scouting team on this one. They brought me back from apathy to being a hardcore fan again these past few years. Loving the product they are putting out there. Even the homegrown ones. lol
 

CowboysLakerBamaFan

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Now for reality:

This incident will not impact Jalen Carter's career one bit. "He might never see the field"? Please...just stop it.

Jalen Carter was widely regarded as the best player in the draft. Mazi was widely regarded as a 2nd rounder.

Who knows how it will all play out....as "sure thing franchise Top 5 DLinemen" have Busted before....and guys taken much later with much less talent have had Hall Of Fame careers.

But as a PROSPECT....Carter is in a different stratosphere than Mazi...and this horrible tragedy won't touch Carters career.... and stop with the homicide silliness. You KNOW 100% that's not happening
 

Kingofholland

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I don't think Carter will ultimately miss out on playing football because of his legal issue. The biggest concern will be his dedication to football and work ethic. In college he relied on his physical traits and in college you can get by on that alone. In the NFL if you don't love football and aren't dedicated that usually doesn't translate to being great. However, he's in a good situation where he doesn't have to be more than the 3rd guy in the rotation this year and maybe he'll be motivated for the 1/3 of snaps he plays.


Scout Quote on Jalen:

“They put him on the treadmill damn near every day. He doesn’t love football, doesn’t love the weight room. Horrible family background. Not a leader. He’s phenomenally talented…He’s the epitome of star or bust.”
 

Pass2Run

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Now for reality:

This incident will not impact Jalen Carter's career one bit. "He might never see the field"? Please...just stop it.

Jalen Carter was widely regarded as the best player in the draft. Mazi was widely regarded as a 2nd rounder.

Who knows how it will all play out....as "sure thing franchise Top 5 DLinemen" have Busted before....and guys taken much later with much less talent have had Hall Of Fame careers.

But as a PROSPECT....Carter is in a different stratosphere than Mazi...and this horrible tragedy won't touch Carters career.... and stop with the homicide silliness. You KNOW 100% that's not happening
That's from an attorney. Not me. So keep that in mind. I just happen to agree with the attorney. Because what he says checks out, if you look at it from a real-world perspective. He's getting a pass, because he played football, and this happened after a win. Deny that all you want; he's getting special treatment. And that is a risk, down the line, which is likely the real reason he was sluggish at workouts. He's scared. Like I said, the media just never picked this up, for whatever reason. That doesn't mean someone won't later. E for effort, I guess....

Then, there's the athleticism, and coaching, and players like Poe, who really weren't exciting coming out, but end up being a good player. So, I'm just comparing the pluses and minuses of the players. You can deduce whatever you want from that and apparently twist it however you want. I'm just stating facts with each prospect.
 

RS12

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Unanimously every draft talking head listed the two best players in the draft as Bijan and Carter. i suppose it is possible the whole world could be wrong, we will find out soon enough. PS: I really hate this time of the pro football year.
 

AsthmaField

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The Mazi Smith RAS score of 9.99 myth needs to go away.

The 9.99 score was when they plugged in the testing numbers from Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks” list. Numbers that were just word of mouth while he was still playing at Michigan. Those aren’t verified or proven.

All Mazi did pre-draft was bench press and vertical jump. He didn’t do any of the others tests I believe.

The “Freaks” article said that Mazi had a vertical jump of 44 inches. However, reality is around 10 inches less than the article claimed. Ten inches. That isn’t just a little different. That is a ton different.

Mazi didn’t even do the testing. There aren’t really numbers to even get a RAS score for him. So yeah, the 9.99 RAS for Mazi is 100% fiction.

Having said all of that, Mazi is still very athletic for a guy his size, is strong as an ox, and his feet are plenty quick to build a pass rushing repertoire in the pro’s. He is a really good prospect and personally, I really like the pick. He will provide something the defense has been missing for a long time.

However, please stop going around saying that Mazi has an RAS score of 9.99. It just isn’t true.

As for Carter… yeah, there is definitely some risk there but I see it as less about the accident and more about the mental make up. Todd McShay said that 7 NFL teams told him that Carter had a problem with following directions from the coaches. The teams said that Carter didn’t follow the defensive game plan and would often freelance. They said that he didn’t like being told what to do by the coaches, and that he didn’t like practice, at all. None of that is good from an NFL prospect.

Throw in that he didn’t even get in shape for his pro day - being over weight and out of shape - and you have the opposite of what you want to see in a prospect. It was a huge interview and he blew it.

There are real threats to Carter having an impact in the pros. Enough for several NFL teams to take him off of their board. He is talented though.
 
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CowboysLakerBamaFan

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I don't think Carter will ultimately miss out on playing football because of his legal issue. The biggest concern will be his dedication to football and work ethic. In college he relied on his physical traits and in college you can get by on that alone. In the NFL if you don't love football and aren't dedicated that usually doesn't translate to being great. However, he's in a good situation where he doesn't have to be more than the 3rd guy in the rotation this year and maybe he'll be motivated for the 1/3 of snaps he plays.


Scout Quote on Jalen:

“They put him on the treadmill damn near every day. He doesn’t love football, doesn’t love the weight room. Horrible family background. Not a leader. He’s phenomenally talented…He’s the epitome of star or bust.”
That's a fair assessment of Philly's gamble. We shall see. There have been plenty of "troubled but talented" players...especially front 7 guys...that turned it around and were nightmares for Off Coordinators for a decade. And then there were some that just never could escape their demons.

Star or Bust is about right.
 

AsthmaField

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That's from an attorney. Not me. So keep that in mind. I just happen to agree with the attorney. Because what he says checks out, if you look at it from a real-world perspective. He's getting a pass, because he played football, and this happened after a win. Deny that all you want; he's getting special treatment. And that is a risk, down the line, which is likely the real reason he was sluggish at workouts. He's scared. Like I said, the media just never picked this up, for whatever reason. That doesn't mean someone won't later. E for effort, I guess....

Then, there's the athleticism, and coaching, and players like Poe, who really weren't exciting coming out, but end up being a good player. So, I'm just comparing the pluses and minuses of the players. You can deduce whatever you want from that and apparently twist it however you want. I'm just stating facts with each prospect.
Just know that the guy you’re talking to is an Eagles fan. Of course he will say that.
 

CowboysLakerBamaFan

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That's from an attorney. Not me. So keep that in mind. I just happen to agree with the attorney. Because what he says checks out, if you look at it from a real-world perspective. He's getting a pass, because he played football, and this happened after a win. Deny that all you want; he's getting special treatment. And that is a risk, down the line, which is likely the real reason he was sluggish at workouts. He's scared. Like I said, the media just never picked this up, for whatever reason. That doesn't mean someone won't later. E for effort, I guess....

Then, there's the athleticism, and coaching, and players like Poe, who really weren't exciting coming out, but end up being a good player. So, I'm just comparing the pluses and minuses of the players. You can deduce whatever you want from that and apparently twist it however you want. I'm just stating facts with each prospect.
Oh nobody is denying he isn't getting special treatment. They all do. But honestly....I wonder how many people in here alone raced when they were stupid and twenty? I did. I did idiot things where I coulda been killed....or someone else. And the only difference is....I got lucky...and those kids didn't. But the decision making was equally bad. So if he got manslaughter...then me and every person in here who ever broke the 100mph barrier for the sake of thrills should get attempted murder or attempted manslaughter....because the crime was the same, we just were luckier in the outcome.

There's a lot of injustice with stars; or especially people in office, where I gnash my teeth with what they got away with.... but man, I know I never thought about anyone getting hurt when I was a dumb kid, and this isn't one of those things where I'm like "MAN he should be in prison!" Ultimately, all the girl in that car had to do....was take her foot off the gas. If Carter had died....and not her, do u really think SHE would have been convicted of manslaughter? Would people in here want that? I doubt it.
 

CowboysLakerBamaFan

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Just know that the guy you’re talking to is an Eagles fan. Of course he will say that.
Oh stop it. I swear anyone in here who doesn't just blindly suck up every one of Jerruh's moves is labeled an Eagles fan.

Don't be so defensive and insecure that you have to slap a label on anyone who has an opinion different than yours.
 

speedkilz88

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The Mazi Smith RAS score of 9.99 myth needs to go away.

The 9.99 score was when they plugged in the testing numbers from Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks” list. Numbers that were just word of mouth while he was still playing at Michigan. Those aren’t verified or proven.

All Mazi did pre-draft was bench press and vertical jump. He didn’t do any of the others tests I believe.

The “Freaks” article said that Mazi had a vertical jump of 44 inches. However, reality is around 10 inches less than the article claimed. Ten inches. That isn’t just a little different. That is a ton different.

Mazi didn’t even do the testing. There aren’t really numbers to even get a RAS score for him. So yeah, the 9.99 RAS for Mazi is 100% fiction.

Having said all of that, Mazi is still very athletic for a guy his size, is strong as an ox, and his feet are plenty quick to build a pass rushing repertoire in the pro’s. He is a really good prospect and personally, I really like the pick. He will provide something the defense has been missing for a long time.

However, please stop going around saying that Mazi has an RAS score of 9.99. It just isn’t true.

As for Carter… yeah, there is definitely some risk there but I see it as less about the accident and more about the mental make up. Todd McShay said that 7 NFL teams told him that Carter had a problem with following directions from the coaches. The teams said that Carter didn’t follow the defensive game plan and would often freelance. They said that he didn’t like being told what to do by the coaches, and that he didn’t like practice, at all. None of that is good from an NFL prospect.

Throw in that he didn’t even get in shape for his pro day - being over weight and out of shape - and you have the opposite of what you want to see in a prospect. It was a huge interview and he blew it.

There are real threats to Carter having an impact in the pros. Enough for several NFL teams to take him off of their board. He is talented though.
The numbers aren't a myth but they were at a lighter weight. Mazi said he was 310 when he put up those numbers.
 

AsthmaField

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The numbers aren't a myth but they were at a lighter weight. Mazi said he was 310 when he put up those numbers.
Well, I don’t know, so I can’t say definitively… but I’d be really, really surprised if he jumped 44 inches at 310 and then about 31 at about 325. That is a Michael Jordan vertical at 310 pounds.

But, maybe so. He definitely is very athletic for a big guy.
 

HanD

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That's a fair assessment of Philly's gamble. We shall see. There have been plenty of "troubled but talented" players...especially front 7 guys...that turned it around and were nightmares for Off Coordinators for a decade. And then there were some that just never could escape their demons.

Star or Bust is about right.
Honest question cause you put an intriguing statement. Do you have examples of both?
 

speedkilz88

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Well, I don’t know, so I can’t say definitively… but I’d be really, really surprised if he jumped 44 inches at 310 and then about 31 at about 325. That is a Michael Jordan vertical at 310 pounds.

But, maybe so. He definitely is very athletic for a big guy.
I've seen guys increase by several inches just from combine to pro day.
 
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