Jim O’Connor-USA TODAY Sports
I can admit when the Dallas Cowboys drafted Bruce Carter in the second round of the 2011 draft, I didn’t know much about him. All I knew he was that Carter was a linebacker out of North Carolina and that he was coming off of a major knee injury.
Here we sit just a few years later and Bruce Carter is primed to become a star for the Cowboys. Look at all the scouting reports on Carter and try to find one person who doesn’t believe Carter will be an outstanding player in the Tampa 2 system for Monte Kiffin, and you’ll be searching for a long time. Carter is a perfect fit in the 4-3 and he’ll have an outstanding year for the Cowboys defense.
Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com recently wrote about Carter after the Cowboys OTA’s:
“LB Bruce Carter is a sick athlete. He was able to drop into coverage and knock down an Orton pass to Bryant as if he had been playing weakside linebacker forever.”
Rick Gosselin of Dallasnews.com said that Carter was a “perfect fit” in the 4-3 because of his size and speed and profootballfocus.com’s Steve Palazzolo said that Carter was a superstar last year and is poised to breakout even more this season because he has the zone covering instincts to “excel at reading quarterbacks and taking away the short passing game for opposing offenses.”
The writing appears to be on the wall with Carter; he’s going to be an outstanding player to watch for the Cowboys this season. None of this should take away what Carter was doing for the Cowboys defense last year though. I had Carter as the breakout player on defense before last season began and even though he was playing great football before his season-ending elbow injury, he appears to be an even better fit in the 4-3.
Carter’s size, speed and athleticism will be on display for the Cowboys as their weak side linebacker in 2013 and fans should expect to see a dynamic play maker on defense. For now forget the Derrick Brooks comparisons, instead concentrate on watching how good Carter will be for this Cowboys defense, and then hopefully down the road in his career we can compare the two players.
The Dallas Cowboys have got themselves a star in Bruce Carter and all indications are that he’s about to breakout in a big way in 2013. Let’s enjoy watching him play.
Ben is a Cowboys writer for www.Rantsports.com and you can chat with or follow him on twitter @BenGrimaldi. You can also add him on Google+
