Pick A Slot Where will Andre Carter be drafted? Between first and 18th, depending on which website you read

Last April Cal junior Andre Carter (below) was likened to Jevon
Kearse--which was a good thing. Kearse (a.k.a. the Freak) had just
helped take the Titans to the Super Bowl, and scouts were
boosting the stock of defensive ends who, like the dominating
6'4", 255-pound Carter, fit the Freakish mold. In 2000, however,
Kearse's play slipped. Then at February's Indianapolis combine,
Carter weighed in at a mere 249 pounds. Both developments make
his prospects in Saturday's proceedings mixed, according to a
survey of websites assessing NFL talent.

The businesslike gbnreport.com, run by draft guru Colin Lindsay,
has Carter going 18th. So does profootballinsider.net, which
relies on agents and NFL insiders. "Questions about his weight
have him falling," the site says. The avoirdupois issue, however,
doesn't faze Brian DeLucia, an NFL consultant for Fox. His
nfldraftdigest.rivals.com has Carter going ninth. Even more
optimistic is whiz kid Robert Davis, 20, of footballsfuture.com,
who, having pored over videos, labels Carter a potential No. 1
and proclaims, "Carter's combination of skills, personality and
work ethic rivals that of [Browns defensive end] Courtney Brown."
Confused? So is Russ Lande of realnfl.com, a site that in the
first round of four mock drafts has Carter going, respectively,
ninth, ninth, 11th and undrafted. Says Lande, a former Rams
scout, of Carter, "He was frustrating to grade.... He does not
consistently produce at his ability level." (SI's Dr. Z says
Carter will be the eighth pick, by the Bears [page 50].)

What does this mean? Perhaps nothing. Consider Andre's father,
Rubin. Back in '75 Rubin was picked in the fifth round by the
Broncos, became a starter immediately and was a fixture at
nosetackle for 12 seasons.

--John O'Keefe

COLOR PHOTO: OTTO GREULE JR./ALLSPORT