Report: Seahawks to host Jalen Carter on pre-draft visit

With two and a half weeks remaining until the 2023 NFL Draft takes place in Kansas City, and the draft boards for teams across the league are working their way into final form. For the Seattle Seahawks, holders of a pair of first round picks in the upcoming draft, the opportunity to add blue chip talent early in the draft for the first time in more than a decade is a unique experience. That applies to both the team and fans, as it has been a long, long time since fans have even been able to realistically dream about potentially adding top ten talent to the roster.

That said, with the Hawks holding the fifth pick in the draft thanks to the trade that sent Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos and the ineptitude of since-fired, rookie head coach Nate Hackett, there is plenty to debate in the coming weeks. Many of the topics set to be debated are not new, and many are the same topics which have been discussed at length by fans and media alike, including the draftability of Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter.

Carter, as most are well aware, was involved in a street race in January which led to the death of a teammate and a team staffer, and in March pled guilty to a pair of misdemeanors related to the incident. The fallout has led several to wonder whether or not the Seahawks could potentially have removed Carter from their draft board, in particular following the 2017 draft debacle of another talented defensive lineman, Malik McDowell.

Now, according to a report from Pete King in Monday’s edition of Football Morning in America, the Seahawks are set to host Carter on a pre-draft visit in the coming days.

Per King, the key thing to keep in mind is that at this point draft boards are not finalized, and thus any reports that the Seahawks have removed Carter from their board entirely may be disregarded. The key to that, of course, is ‘at this point’, as two and a half weeks ahead of the draft, which is plenty of time for things to change.

On the flip side, Seattle hosting Carter on a visit doesn’t necessarily mean that he is on the board for the team. As former Field Gulls contributor Matty F. Brown noted in a 2019 post for the site, there are multiple reasons why a team might host a player on a pre-draft visit, not the least of which is treating the visit as an interview while finalizing their draft board.

So, while the debate will certainly continue to rage in the coming weeks leading up to the draft on April 27, Carter remains on the Seahawks draft board. At least for now. Though that is subject to change.