New England Patriots: Can Markell Carter Be a First-Year Impact Pass Rusher?

Following the first three rounds of the 2011 NFL draft, New England Patriots fans were all probably scratching their heads as Bill Belichick and the Patriots failed to select a highly-regarded pass rusher.

In fact, fans and analysts, including myself, were all surprised considering that New England's pass rush is mediocre at best, and in such a defensive loaded draft, the Patriots passed on players like Cameron Jordan, Brooks Reed, and Jabaal Sheard. 

However, Belichick and New England's draft team did make a rather interesting selection in the sixth round, when they selected Central Arkansas' Markell Carter. 

Carter was a four-year player at Central Arkansas, where he suited up as a defensive end in their 4-3 defensive system. While there, Carter was a solid pass rush and overall a well-rounded defensive end. He finished his final season with a total of 62 tackles and 5.5 sacks—definitely solid production.

As Belichick runs a 3-4 defensive alignment, Carter will likely be switching to outside linebacker, but that may be a bit of a challenge for the 6'4" and 248 pounder—but the Patriots must be 100 percent sure that it'll be a smooth transition.

The Patriots held a pre-draft visit with Carter, and must have been impressed with his football IQ, making it extremely clear that Carter would not be lining up with his hand in the dirt in New England's defense. 

In a post-draft conference call Carter held with the media, he discussed how he's been preparing for the transition to outside linebacker for quite sometime now:

"It was something I started working on the week after the season ended—all of the stuff that I was kind of uncomfortable with at the beginning,” Carter said during the call back on April 31.

Carter then went onto state that he's well aware of his new role with New England:

"

”That’s pretty much worked out. I worked on it for the past two and a half or three months really hard – two to three times a day, so just the repetition of working on my drops and getting into the film room and watching film of some of the good guys actually doing it and things like that and just trying to adapt my game to the way that they kind of do things.”

"

It's clear that Carter definitely has a high-motor and the drive to excel at the next level in New England's 3-4 defense. 

Carter is definitely large in size, but has all the power and athleticism to beat blockers and get to the quarterback. At his pro day, Carter impressed scouts with a 4.76 forty-yard dash time and 17 reps of bench pressing 225 lbs.—definitely a nice combination of speed and power. 

Entering 2011, Carter should expect to have the opportunity to gain a lot of playing time as the Patriots' mediocre pass rush will need some major help. Carter definitely has the ability to be a solid and productive outside linebacker—which can jump Carter into some serious playing time in the up-coming season.

This article was first seen at PatriotsPlus.net. Be sure to follow Tony Santorsa on Twitter @ TonySantorsa.