6 prospects moving down the Vikings board after the 2023 NFL Combine

Jalen Carter – DT (Georgia)

Couldn’t do a list of the biggest fallers on the Vikings’ draft board without including Jalen Carter from Georgia.

Anytime you have to leave the Combine to go get arrested is never a good thing. A lot of details are still unclear about this whole situation, but it’s pretty clear Carter is going to take a tumble down the board on draft day. The question is, how far?

Basically, Carter was issued a warrant for his arrest and charged with a misdemeanor for reckless driving and racing that resulted in a crash and death of a teammate and staff member. Obviously, this situation needs to play out, but nothing is likely going to be resolved by the time the draft commences in April. This situation will loom a dark shadow over Carter and his draft stock.

He was once seen as a surefire top-five pick with a strong chance of going No. 1 overall. Now, the Vikings have to be prepared that he could be on the board at pick No. 23 and need to be 100 percent comfortable with him as a person and how this situation may play out to decide if he’s worth the gamble.

While this is an ugly mark on Carter’s character and a horrible tragedy overall, he does have some positive character history. He reportedly paid for a teammate’s meals who couldn’t afford to eat with the rest of the team. That is something a leader does, so this recent arrest could be an outlier.

Carter is one of the blue-chip prospects in this draft class. He made a horrible decision, and now he’ll have a ton of explaining to do, and he will likely lose a lot of money as he falls down the board this April 27th.