WHY CAN’T CARTER CATCH A BREAK? HE REFUSES TO SAY
Receiver claims he has no idea why teams keep cutting him despite his obvious talent
Duron Carter didn’t like the questions: they were about him.
Carter had just made the five-minute walk from Lamport Stadium to BMO Field after Argos practice, just another of the characters among the clowns and carnival barkers on the Midway on another CNE afternoon. He was smiling and laughing and being goofy, all the things he is known for, until he was asked what happened.
What happened in Regina? What happened in Montreal? What happened to a college football career at Ohio State and Alabama, where he never played a game? What happened to his NFL career, when clearly he was NFL stuff ?
“I feel like you are asking terrible questions,” the newest Argo said.
The more specific the question, the less specific the answer.
“I’ve been everywhere,” he said, sounding like a line from a famous song. “I guess nobody can pinpoint what I am doing wrong. I guess you have to ask them in a sense. I’m trying to grow up and be a man and as I grow up and be a professional, I can’t work in grey areas and non-disclosures and stuff.”
When asked about his season in Indianapolis, where he never played a down or was picked up by another NFL team, he answered: “You’d have to ask them about that. That’s a ‘them’ matter. Not me.”
When asked how he would like to be perceived, now in his third stop in the CFL, his seventh stop in the last 10 football seasons, he said: “It doesn’t matter to me because you can’t control how you are perceived.”
But what if he could write the headlines himself, what would they say?
“I think I do write the headlines,” he said.
And round and round we went, trying to understand this immense talent who was let go in Regina in mid-season, after being let go in Montreal in mid-season, after going to college to college to college without playing, after barely getting a sniff in the NFL with no one coming out and specifically explaining why.
General manager and coach Chris Jones never explained it after cutting him in Saskatchewan. Coach Jacques Chapdelaine was just as mysterious in Montreal.
Clearly there are behaviour and maturity and self-awareness issues with Carter, whose father Cris, who he is not talking to, is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and whose uncle Butch, who he is talking to and being guided by, was one of the best coaches in Raptors history.
Lots of receivers, the diva position in pro football, have been all about themselves and still succeeded. Odell Beckham Jr. just became the highest-paid receiver in football. Teams will put up with me-first receivers if they have to.
Just not Carter. Not for long. And no one will succinctly explain why. When asked if this is his last shot, he wasn’t sure how to answer because what talent affords in almost every professional league is more rope for the gifted.
“I don’t know (if it’s my last shot),” Carter said. “I read an article how my CFL days were done two weeks ago. So I couldn’t tell you. All I can do is be myself and work hard. I want to play football. And I will continue to strive to be here.”
These are the first few days for Carter as an Argo. He will not play Monday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and will not play Sept. 8 in the rematch. The first half of the decision makes some sense. He has been here only a few days. But in pivotal games for the Argos, coach Marc Trestman is favouring process over individual talent, choosing to have Carter miss back-to-back games that could well determine the Argos’ season.
Trestman understands the challenge he is facing with Carter. There were a lot of conversations between him and general manager Jim Popp and other members of the Argos staff before they decided to sign Carter. Trestman doesn’t just coach football. He coaches people. He coaches men. He won’t say where this challenge ranks among the many challenges he and his teams have faced over the last 30 or more years. He won’t get personal about athletes he has played a part in saving over the years — lost causes he has turned into players. That, he said, is between him and the players.
“The bottom line is Duron is a really talented football player and we’re not going to allow perceptions of what happened in other places and all the dynamics affect our decision here,” Trestman said. “He’s talented. And with every talented player Jim brings to our locker-room, we go through a process of getting him involved in what we do and how we do it. We’re doing it no differently with him than with (other receivers like) Rodney Smith or Myles White or Mario Alford. It’s really the same thing.
“I’m just looking out for the best interests for our team and the best interests for (Carter) and the best interests for him are to assimilate him to our team from inside out and the football will take care of itself. I feel very good about that. We’ve decided, not just myself, what’s going to be best for our football team in the long run and not this week or next week.”
Carter said he has no adjustments to make.
“Common sense is the main thing,” he said. “Common sense and being professional.”
The lack of both in previous stops are probably why he’s an Argo today.