If Jalen Carter is available at No. 6 in the draft, would you be comfortable if Brad Holmes and the Lions passed on him for someone else?
"No," says Rico, "I would be skeptical, because then whoever you took I would compare with Jalen Carter for the rest of their career and say, I need to know that you made the better choice. If this kid is staring you right in the face and you went in a different direction, I’ve seen too many times here in Detroit where the GM was smarter than everybody else and took this guy and passed on that guy who could’ve helped them because they had character flaws.
"You can’t sit here and wear the villain shirt and say, we’re going to do things differently. That’s not doing things different. That’s doing things the same way. You got a talent that's right in front of you. Fix him. Do your job and get him to mature. But his levels of skill, you can’t coach it. He has it. You’re trying to win, you’re so close to the playoffs, you gotta take this guy that’s right in font of you. I don’t want to hear, we’re going to take the next best thing."
Viewed by many as the top talent in the draft, Carter has seen his stock take a hit due to off-the-field concerns. Just last month, the defensive tackle from Georgia pleaded no contest to charges of reckless driving in connection to an accident in January that killed one of his teammates and a Georgia staff member, then showed up out of shape to his pro day and was unable to finish his position drills.
And before all that, ESPN draft expert Todd McShay reported there were "questions about (Carter's) character" in college, including things like "work ethic, practice habits, being late for meetings."
The Lions are reportedly hosting Carter for a pre-draft visit, where it will be incumbent upon Holmes, Dan Campbell and the rest of Detroit's key decision-makers to determine whether or not Carter is worth the potential risk with the sixth overall pick.
"The reason why I like Jalen Carter is because he has something you don’t have. He’s a run stopper," says Rico. "He has made a lot of mistakes, he has, but you know what? He’s not going to be 21 for the rest of his life. He’s going to grow up, he’s going to be around grown men and coaches. And if you believe in Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell, then they will know how to make this kid mature into a man and say, 'Quit the foolishness, we’re trying to win here.'
"But he has talent that most people in the draft do not have. Take the man, make this defensive line better."
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