Todd McShay takes a shot at Jalen Carter saying he has character issues, and his walk-on teammate responds

You have to love the draft. I love the draft because there are so many damn rumors flying it is honestly hard to keep up with. Jalen Carter is one of the best football players in the 2023 NFL Draft and he has very few flaws in his game.

Todd McShay agrees he is a natural talent but threw out character issues as a problem with the massive pass rusher.

“With Carter, there are some character issues. Does he get along with everybody? What’s he like to deal with in the locker room, those sorts of issues. I know it’s early in the process, but I’m forewarning everybody out there. Carter is going to be a hot-button name when we talk about some of the intangible aspects of it. I think Pete Carroll (and the Seattle Seahawks) at No. 2, who has a long of history taking guys with questionable character and then developing them and having them work out, that would make a lot of sense to me.

“That will be the big discussion. It’s not about his talent, his size or his explosive take off or finishing as a pass rusher, it’s about the character and do we want to bring that guy into the building.”

This was not cool and one of his teammates Weston Wallace a walk-on football player responded. Jalen Carter spoke with Bruce Feldman of the Athletic to confirm the story.

Weston Wallace was not entitled to free team lunches as a walk-on, which is absolutely crazy, but when Jalen Carter heard about this, he stepped into action.

“I’m the only walk-on in the defensive line room, and he goes, ‘I’m not gonna let that happen.’ So he used his scholarship money to pay for me to get lunch every single day.”

As far as the “character concerns,” Wallace said that those were out of line.

“You honestly don’t know the guy if you think that,” Wallace said. “You can ask anybody on the team, whether it’s the O-line that he bullies every day out there. … Everybody thinks he’s an all-around great guy, and I think he’ll be great for any team that picks him.”

I mean McShay does this all the time, he throws players under the bus. He just did this with Jaxon Smith-Ngiba as well, but this is what you have to deal with as a draftable player. Critics will come from all over the place. I am glad Carter’s teammate stepped up, that is pretty cool.