Worth Remembering—Kevin Carter

 By John Turney 

Merlin Olsen once said, "To make a pass rush work someone has to crack the pocket, put pressure on the quarterback from the middle. Otherwise, the quarterback can step up and make his throw." In other words, edge pressure is important but so is interior pressure—both matter.

At different phases of his career, Kevin Carter provided both. 

Early in his career, he was on the edge as a defensive end. Later he played end in base defenses but did most of his damage inside, as a defensive tackle.

Along the way, he received a lot of praise in almost every year but he did have a couple of years when he endured a lot of criticism

Kevin Carter got both. 

In 1995, after a stellar career at the University of Florida (All-American, two-time All-SEC, 203 tackles, 21.5 sacks), the St. Louis Rams took their first draft pick after moving to the Midwest—Kevin Carter. 

Carter was a sure-fire first-round pick but what solidified his position in the top ten was his performance at the University of Florida Pro Day. He was scheduled to run two forties for the gathered NFL scouts but after the first one Carter said, "That's a 4.6, I'm done." Actually, it was reported as 4.66 but what's an extra 6/100th of a second?

According to Carter, the Rams had not hinted that they were interested in drafting him but they had quietly done their homework and had fallen in love with the intelligent and athletic Florida Gator but they never thought he'd be there when they picked sixth—they had him rated as the third-best player in the draft. So, when he was sitting there the Rams grabbed him.

New Rams head coach Rich Brooks said, "In my mind, he's a bigger Chris Doleman-type. He plays the run well and he's very agile and hard to knock off his feet."

Brooks hired Willie Shaw as the Rams defensive coordinator that initial season in St. Louis and he was a proponent of and installed the "Jet" scheme, an attacking style of play for the front that treated every play like it was a pass down. The defensive linemen adjusted to running plays or screens on the fly. The idea was to take a group of young and talented defensive linemen and just turn them loose on NFL quarterbacks.

In camp his rookie year, Carter quickly won a starting job at right defensive end and played there throughout the preseason. On the defensive interior was newly signed free agent Jimmie Jones as the shade tackle and up-and-comer D'Marco Farr at the three-technique. Opposite Carter, at left end, was Sean Gilbert a first-round pick in 1992 who had been a Pro Bowl defensive tackle but converted to end in 1995.  

Gilbert was huge at around 315 pounds and Shaw, following the philosophy of the day, put the bigger Gilbert on the strong side of the defensive line and the quicker Carter on the blind side. However, the right side and Carter didn't agree. 

He struggled some after playing mostly on the left side in college. So, right before opening day Gilbert and Carter swapped sides (making Gilbert one of the biggest-ever 4-3 right ends in history). But, on passing downs Jones went out and Gilbert moved to defensive tackle and designated rusher Fred Stokes played right end, that was the rush personnel. 

The alignment on the left side worked well for Carter who was All-Rookie and was second on the team with six sacks. 

The next year he led the team in the sacks department and was second on the team in hurries. But the performance of the defensive line did not save the jobs of Brooks and Shaw after going 13-22 in their stint in St. Louis. They were fired, along with the rest of the staff.

In came Dick Vermeil and along with him hiring came legendary defensive coordinator Bud Carson and his defense system. Though Carson coached just one year in St. Louis, his scheme stayed through the 2000 season, and in it, Carter improved (and gained weight) every year through 1999—leading the team in pressures every year and leading in sacks in 1998 and 1999. 

Scouts loved him all the while one commenting, "He's strong at the point of attack and still had the speed and quickness to beat tackles on the edge." But the only post-season honor he received was in 1998 when he was a Pro Bowl alternate. The team's lack of success kept them off the Monday, Sunday, and Thursday Night games for the most part and kept Carter out of the limelight.

When Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner fortuitously took the reigns of the offense in 1999 the Rams instantly became contenders and the defense was ready to support what became a record-setting offense. 

The defense was first in stopping the run, sixth in the fewest yards per carry, tied for the NFL in sacks, and fourth in scoring defense and Kevin Carter was the best player on it. He led the NFL in sacks with 17, led the club with 59 pressures, was a consensus First-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler—his first (he was an alternate in 1998) and was named by the Dallas Morning News as their NFL Defensive Player of the Year. 

Most importantly the Rams went on to win the Super Bowl with a defensive stand at the end of the game that preserved the title that included the final play —"The Tackle" as it came to be known. Interestingly there was some mild criticism of Carter later on when an NFL Films clip with a mic'd Dick Vermeil shaking his head in disbelief when Carter said he was fatigued and asked to come out of Super Bowl XXXIV during the final drive. Vermeil, to his credit, added, "They're exhausted."

What was not noticed, since there was no clip of it, was that it was Carter who after a short breather was in the game on the final play, and the guy with the motor, Grant Wistrom, had begged out of the game due to fatigue and Leonard Little played the final down at right defensive end. Perception sometimes becomes reality but the reality and it was Carter who was named in Vermeil's commentary.

His stellar play in the regular season carried through the postseason. Carter had a sack in Super Bowl XXXIV and also a sack in both the previous playoff games and led the Rams in pressures during that postseason. 

Carter's success was going to be rewarded by the Rams, or so they thought. In the offseason after the Super Bowl, they offered him a six-year contract worth $45 million with $12 million of that coming in as a signing bonus. Carter and his agent turned it down, thinking that it was not enough given the level of production he'd shown over the previous few seasons. 

It turned out to be poor timing. 

Kurt Warner was also needing to be signed long-term and he was offered almost the same deal, only $3 million less and $2 million less in the signing bonus department than the offer Carter was offered. Warner took his deal and the Rams put Carter's contract on hold.

So, Carter played out the sixth and final year of his rookie contract (which was six years, $10 million), allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. 

Here was the problem—2000 was the first year Carter didn't improve, he regressed. He was bothered by a bad back and after a very good two weeks to begin the season the big plays ceased to happen. 

At midseason the prior year Carter totaled seven sacks and had 35 pressures and in 2000 the numbers were 3½ sacks and 19 pressures and one of those sacks and eight of the pressures were in the first two games. While the whole defense was struggling Carter and Pro Bowl cornerback Todd Lyght seemed to get singled out for some reason. 

Head coach Mike Martz benched Carter (and Lyght) and accused him of not giving it his all saying to the press, "Kevin Carter has all the talent in the world but he has no motor." And even worse, Bud Carson who had been brought in as a consultant to try and fix the defense seemingly was down on him as well saying that "He's not the same player I remember." 

Ouch. 

It was decided that Carter would be benched as a starter and would come in as a defensive tackle on passing downs (with Leonard Little coming into games at Carter's usual left defensive end spot) and Sean Moran took the left end spot in the base defense. 

Double ouch. 

Carter took offense to the benching and vehemently denied that he was not giving it his all telling the St. Louis scribes, "Sometimes I might not have the best game but it is never because of the lack of effort." Carter added that he didn't think his benching and that of  Lyght was good for the organization and that it was "de-motivating". He also said that there was no way the defense was better with him on the bench.

The war of words continued with Martz adding saying Carter was "non-existent" in game films versus both the run and the pass and that Carter's effort was not to "NFL standards."

Smart or not, good organizationally or not, de-motivating or not the numbers for Carter improved when he got his starting job back after a couple of weeks. He had seven sacks in the final eight games and for the season he was second on the team with 10½ sacks and led in pressures for the third straight season. 

The Rams squeaked into the playoffs and quickly exited. 

One of the first orders of business was to deal with the Carter situation. It was clear he was a goner despite the fact he expressed interest in staying and playing in new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith's defense. The Rams had another plan in mind and placed the franchise tag on Carter and then shipped him to the Titans for a first-round draft pick. 

The Titans welcomed him with open arms—signing him to a six-year $40 million contract that could end up at $51 million if he stayed the entire length of the deal.  

Head coach Jeff Fisher said, "Kevin will play hard for us. All our guys play hard. He will know that is the expectation from Day One."

Carter was installed at left end and Pro Bowler Jevon Kearse, who had been the left defensive end for the previous two seasons, moved to the right side. Carter was also going to play inside on passing downs something he grew to enjoy in his final year with the Rams, "I kind of like playing tackle in the nickel. I don't like it much in the base defense but it's fun on passing downs." 

Well, that first year in Tennessee didn't work out well. 

The Titans, after back-to-back seasons of 13-3 fell to 7-9. The vaunted pass rush produced just 32 sacks after posting 55 and 54 the previous two seasons. 

Carter, though he led the Titans in pressures totaled only two sacks (both coming in the same game), was called names by one national NFL writer, "He was a dog in St. Louis and he's a dog in Tennessee, albeit a better-paid one."

Early in the season, Carter clashed a little bit with defensive line coach Jim Washburn but they got that mended out. After the season Washburn said to the media, "He's tried to do all we ask . . . I know Kevin is going to take a lot of crap (for his two-sack total) in the offseason, everyone's going to want to jump on him. Unfortunately, that's what I am judged on, it's what we're all judged on."

After two poor seasons in a row, Carter rebounded in his final years in Nashville. He was a Pro Bowler in 2002 leading the team in sacks and more importantly pressures. The team improved and made it to the AFC championship game, losing to the Raiders.

In 2003 Carter got tremendous praise when Pro Football Weekly wrote that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick argued that not only that Carter was one of the best defensive players but also "could be considered for league MVP." 

Belichick, in a presser, added, "He got great quickness and he's a good technique rusher and he's got power. He can capitalize on offensive linemen when he takes a bad set or puts his hands out too early or turns his shoulders or does something fundamentally wrong. So, whether inside or outside working on a tackle or a guard he has a good repertoire of moves and techniques that can cause a lot of problems. he's tough."

After three seasons in Tennessee Carter signed with new head coach Nick Saban in Miami. He signed a five-year $30 million contract with $10 million coming in the first two years of the contract and over the first three years, his pay would be $16 million. 

Carter wanted to stay in Tennessee but in a cap-motivated decision, the Titans released Carter. His agent said that several teams, including the Patriots, would be interested but a call from Jason Taylor convinced him that Miami was the place to be. Taylor related that Vonnie Holliday has signed and Keith Traylor was "on the fence" and tried to convince Carter that it was going to be special and if Miami came up with "the right number, he was 'there'."

With the Dolphins he was part of a hybrid 4-3/3-4 defense with him once again playing end in that base and moving inside in the nickel. In the nickel, they did great work. This time Belichick remarked on the Dolphins front four, "When they get to third down, they put Vonnie Holliday inside with Kevin Carter, and [David] Bowens and Jason Taylor on the edge, it's the best pass rushing group I think we've seen all year across the board. Every one of those guys can definitely rush."

With the Dolphins, Carter was not the team leader in pressures (Which would have been hard to do with Jason Taylor on the club) for the first time in seven years but he did his part in setting up the edge rushers in passing situations. In his two years with the Dolphins they averaged 48 sacks a year, the year before Carter's arrival the total was 36, and the year after he left sacks dropped to 30 so it seemed he did have a positive impact on the defense. 

His next stop was with the Buccaneers. His role was the same as it had been since 2001, end in base, tackle in nickel. And the 34-year-old Carter performed up-to-snuff again.

Even at that age, he'd retained much of his quickness and his power was still impressive. His sack numbers were not impressive in his final two seasons but his 32 pressures (according to Pro Football Focus) in 2007 and 31 in 2008 were fairly notable. 

Carter, according to his agent, was enjoying football tremendously in Tampa. After 2007 he was a free agent and visited the Lions (whose offer he passed on) and the Raiders, who offered more money but chose to stay on Florida's west coast rather than take the Raider offer and play on the California coast. His agent Harold Lewis told the press, referring to his client, "Very few people have a chance to write their own ending. He'll have that chance."

As Belichick mentioned Carter was a rare combination of power and quickness. He had tremendous size for a defensive end, playing at 300-305 from 1999 through 2008, though a bit smaller—275-285 from 1995-98. 

He had a very good rip move, and could also go inside with a good club move as a counter to the rip. Of course, he had his bull rush and in his earlier days could use speed to get around the corner.

Oddly, for some reason, when one studies him in games, he didn't always have a consistently great get-off. Too often, not always, he was just a heartbeat slow at the snap. Likely he was making sure not to be offside, he waited for ball movement, and that split-second difference between anticipation and being sure was noticeable. It was just a thing that shows on film worth noting. 

He had a very worthy career with 104½ sacks while leading his team in pressures/hurries eight times and was second or tied for second three times. He went to a pair of Pro Bowls and was All-Pro, got himself a Super Bowl ring, and he never missed a game—which is no small feat in the era he played.

From 1997-00 Carter's 47 sacks tied for the best in the NFL for that four-year span, more than guys like Michael Strahan, Warren Sapp, and John Randle and although statistics for all teams are available his 171 pressures were surely among the league leaders.

There was no doubt he was one of the best edge rushers in the NFL and one who could stuff running plays well, too. He was no one-trick pony.

Yes, Carter was one of those players who had an excellent career, and though he had a couple of rocky seasons in the middle, most of his career is one that is worth remembering.

Career stats—