Adam Schefter has eye-opening assessment of how far Jalen Carter might fall in 2023 NFL Draft

The Chicago Bears shook up the 2023 NFL Draft board in a big way Friday by trading the No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers. Now, Chicago has the No. 9 pick — in addition to a second-rounder — in this year’s draft, meaning there are plenty of directions general manager Ryan Poles could go.

One option, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, could be former Georgia star Jalen Carter.

Carter was viewed as a potential top-four pick heading into the NFL Combine before news broke of an arrest warrant for two misdemeanor charges. That led to speculation Carter would fall down the draft board, and ESPN analyst Todd McShay didn’t have him in the top 10 of his latest mock draft Saturday after the big trade.

With that in mind — and with Chicago now sitting at No. 9 — Schefter predicted Carter would still be on the board if the Bears wanted to take him. He also confirmed they’ll be among the teams at Carter’s pro day.

“I think there’s a real chance he’s going to be there for them,” Schefter told Dionne Miller and Peggy Kusinski on ESPN 1000 in Chicago on Saturday. “They’re going to have to do the work on him and spend some time. I know that they’ll be at his pro day watching him closely, meeting with him. Once they do that, they can make the decision about what they want to do. But yeah, he’ll be a guy that’s in consideration for that No. 9 spot and it wouldn’t surprise me if he were there.”

Todd McShay: ‘In Jalen Carter, you’re getting arguably the best player in this draft’

Carter was arrested and booked in the Athens-Clarke-County jail on charges of reckless driving and racing stemming from a fatal crash in January that killed his former Bulldogs teammate Devin Willock and recruiting staff Chandler LeCroy. As a result, McShay dropped Carter to the No. 12 pick in his post-combine mock draft and had him there once again in Saturday’s update.

If he ends up falling to No. 9, McShay thinks the talent is there.

“In Jalen Carter, you’re getting arguably the best player in this draft,” McShay explained in a Tuesday SportsCenter appearance. “When he was healthy late in the season, there was no one more disruptive in the country. But he’s obviously dealing with a recent incident. There’s a lot of character questions there. How far is he gonna fall?”