End of the Road for Jennings & Carter?

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maxlion
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"It's that trust issue..."

Seems to be the same problem Carter had in Toronto and Saskatchewan.
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DanoT
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Dusty wrote:
Sun Feb 02, 2020 9:10 am
I think Carter was wasted last year..... "wasted" in the sense that the offensive schemes did not use his skills. There were many times that he was open and the play went to the other side of the field. If the word "misdirection" had been in the repertoire of our last OC, he would have had a better year, because he was usually yards off coverage.....
^^^ I agree and would normally be in favour of re-signing Carter but given the tight SMS situation due to Reilly's big salary, I think the Lions need to go with a rookie American's salary at Carter's former receiver position.
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B.C.FAN
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maxlion wrote:
Sat Feb 01, 2020 8:55 pm
In this article, Carter says he wants to play until he is 40, and maybe switch to defense:

https://3downnation.com/2020/01/18/duro ... rs-return/
“My approach to the season and just having to get on a better page with Mike Reilly early and understanding where needs me and the type of quarterback that he is because he’s a real visual quarterback, he needs to see it done all the time,” Carter said.

“Most of my career everybody’s been, ‘well he’s going to do it, you just gotta trust him.’ It’s that trust issue right there that hindered our football relationship. ....”

“The times when I do go all out and play to where I want to play at, people don’t accept it. It brings me a lot more hardships. When I am allowed to be the emotional player I am, ride the wave of the game, that’s where I thrive most of the time,” Carter said.

“But that hasn’t gotten me the longevity I need in a career. For me I think I have to find a happy medium of pleasing myself and pleasing everybody else. It’s a business deal at first before it’s a relationship.”

“Honestly, I would like to play cornerback because it allows me to be free and be the player that I need to be and that I know I can be. Offence as I’m getting older and seeing all these different offences, there’s so many people you have to please just to get you the ball four times in a game,” Carter said.
These quotes reinforce my impressions of Carter from training camp through the season. He's flaky and does his own thing. I agree with Toppy that Carter was an excellent downfield blocker but he didn't seem to put in a lot of effort on most plays. The most telling 2019 stat for Carter is that he had only one reception of over 30 yards. (It was 32 yards.) Bryan Burnham had 14, Shaq Johnson had 6 and Lemar Durant had 4. Carter had only 3 TDs. Burnham had 11. How many 50-50 balls did Carter catch? Not many. He seldom got open deep and he didn't use his size and hands to come down with the ball when he was covered. Burnham routinely caught passes in double coverage. Carter was only of only 2 players among the top 35 CFL receivers who didn't have a single 100-yard game. (R.J. Harris of Ottawa was the other.)

Carter's stated desire to switch to cornerback is just another example of how he plays for himself and not his team. He's not going to have the freedom to do his own thing on defence. Most CFL defences play a lot of zone coverage, requiring constant communication and trust among cornerbacks, halfbacks and safeties. I wouldn't trust him to carry out his zone assignments.
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