Las Vegas Raiders 7-round 2023 NFL Mock Draft: Early FA edition
7. Jalen Carter DT Georgia
The Raiders’ biggest need coming into the offseason was quarterback and a true franchise quarterback is still needed, but the signing of Jimmy Garoppolo allows them to be a bit more patient. This opens the door for them to add a potentially great generational talent in Jalen Carter who could be sliding down draft boards.
Carter has been the number one prospect on most draft boards since the beginning of this process but he has done some different things to hurt his draft stock ever since. The first of which was a legal issue which we won’t get into the details of but that definitely could have some teams thinking twice about drafting him so early.
The second is the fact that he showed up ten pounds overweight to his Pro Day and has not done any of the usual drills during this process. That is not uncommon for top prospects but the same top prospects don’t usually have legal issues hanging over their heads.
Despite all that, if he is available to the Raiders at number 7, they almost have no choice but to draft him. Carter has all of the measurables and statistics you look for in a dominant defensive tackle and he is a player that could transform this Raiders defense.