Andre Carter II played like a first-round NFL Draft choice during a memorable junior season at Army in 2021. The edge rusher wasn’t able to sustain the same production during a senior season that was hindered by injury.
Still, Carter, who measured 6-6 ½ and 256 pounds during the NFL Combine, brings plenty of intrigue into the draft.
And according to Army head coach Jeff Monken, there has been plenty of interest shown toward Carter by NFL teams.
“NFL people love Andre Carter,” Monken said in an interview with HERO Sports. “His best football is ahead of him.”
It’s been suggested that any team drafting Carter may use his rookie season as a ‘redshirt’ year as a way to develop him.
“He’s really long, he bends so well for a tall, big player,” Monken said. “He has a lot of growth potential and I think they feel like he is a guy who is going to develop, even as he gets into the league.”
As a junior at Army, Carter recorded a school-record 15.5 sacks, which was No. 2 in FBS behind Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr., who is considered a likely top-five NFL Draft choice.
It was staggering production, considering that Carter had one sack and nine tackles in 10 games as a sophomore and appeared in just three games as a freshman with no tackles. This came after one season of prep school at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut.
As a senior this past season, he appeared in 10 games, missing two due to injury, and he wasn’t 100 percent in others, according to Monken. Carter had 41 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks.
So what happened?
“He missed a couple of games in the middle of the season, which hurt his production, obviously, and even when he came back, he wasn’t completely healthy and he was fighting through, trying to battle the injury, so his production was down,” Monken said.
A former basketball player in high school, Carter has NFL-type athletic ability.
He didn’t participate in all drills at the Combine but was timed at 4.36 seconds in the 20-yard shuttle, which was third among defensive ends. He ran the 40-yard dash at Army’s Pro Day and while the school didn’t release any numbers, The Athletic’s draft expert Dane Brugler lists him at 4.91 seconds for the 40 in his comprehensive NFL draft guide.
One area that Carter will need to improve is his strength. He bench-pressed just 11 reps of 225 pounds at the Combine. Monken feels that Carter will be a much stronger player once he gets into the daily routine provided by NFL teams.
“If you know the academies, it’s not easy to maximize yourself physically,” Monken said. “When you are at an academy, there are a lot of demands on the students here, the academic rigors, the professional standards, the military obligation that they have.”
The coach then gave an example of former Army offensive lineman Brett Toth, who has played 17 games for the Philadelphia Eagles since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2019 and is looking to rebound after missing last season while recovering from a torn ACL.
“Brett Toth came here 220 (pounds) as a freshman, 305 as a senior, and has played for the Eagles and weighs 325, 330 and has weighed as high as 340 and still has growth potential,” Monken said.
He feels that Carter will follow the same path, getting bigger and stronger.
Any team that drafts Carter will have to believe in his upside.
“Andre has a tremendous amount of growth potential, so they are not drafting what the final product is going to be, which has to be enticing for a team because he’s already a really good player and very athletic and I think he’s only going to improve,” Monken said.
Monken feels that Carter will prove to be an accomplished pass rusher in the NFL
“He has a real knack for beating guys off the ball and any subtle movement by the offensive player, he is like a rocket and does a great job anticipating and reacting to his keys and to the ball,” Monken said.
The Army coach said that Carter has met with several NFL teams.
Brugler gives Carter a 5th-6th round grade. Even though he plays at a service academy, Carter will be eligible to join an NFL team immediately and defer the military service commitment.
So he is ready to begin his professional football career.
The key to any team that drafts Carter is to show patience. Expecting to plug him in and play right away may not be realistic. Expecting a productive player in a few years appears very realistic.
