Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter was set to visit Halas Hall on Monday as one of the 30 official draftee visits allowed the Bears by league rules.
General manager Ryan Poles has said for weeks the Bears planned to bring him in for an interview. Last month, Carter pled no contest to two misdemeanors — reckless driving and racing — in connection to a car accident in January that killed his former teammate and a Georgia staffer.
Those charges came out during the NFL Scouting Combine — and after the Bears had interviewed Carter in Indianapolis.
“You look at the risk,” Poles said last week at the NFL’s annual meetings, when asked about Cater. “You’ve got to balance that and again, for us, especially being so young, we want to make sure we’re keeping a good culture and maintaining this as we go.”
The Bears might be in a better place to take such a risk than they were last year, Poles said, but he still made it sound like taking a chance on a player with maturity issues — whether it’s Carter or someone else — would be risky.
“We’re still young and impressionable,” he said. “So it’s making sure we continue to bring a good core group in. That’s important. I think maybe down the road, where maybe you want to take a risk like that, the locker room begins to run itself. So you can take those chances. Right now, we need both. We need talent. But at the same time, I’m still going to be a little bit cautious of bringing in the wrong type of person.”
Every prospect “is a big puzzle,” Poles said.
“You usually take it all the way back to high school — how they were recruited, how they handled that and now you kind of play it through their career,” he said. “Sometimes there’s red flags that pop up and you’ve got to sit down and have discussions with different parts of your organization and say, ‘Does this guy fit what we’re trying to do?’”
Poles said he would discuss players who were “a little more high-risk” with chairman George McCaskey and incoming president Kevin Warren.
“I’ll talk about the history and things that we’ve learned and do we think it’s worth it or not,” he said. “But I do want my owner and president to sign off and be on the same page.”
Carter is considered one of the most intriguing talents in the draft. The Bears sent Poles and numerous coaches to Georgia’s pro day last month, where Carter was underwhelming. He failed to finish the only drill he agreed to do — a defensive line drill.
Carter fits one of the Bears’ most obvious needs. They’ve added former Raiders nose tackle Andrew Billings to their defensive line as well as former Titans edge rusher DeMarcus Walker, who can play inside on passing downs.
Agent Drew Rosenhaus told ESPN on Monday that Carter has spoken with the Eagles, whose first pick is No. 10 overall, would only meet with teams picking in the top 10.
