Abdul Carter injury update: Daniel Jeremiah reveals how stress reaction impacts draft stock

During last week’s NFL Scouting Combine, news broke that Abdul Carter was weighing surgery for a stress reaction in his foot. That raised immediate questions about his stock as the potential No. 1 overall pick.

Carter faced two options for the injury. The first was to rest and heal up to complete the pre-draft process in the spring. The other was surgery, which entailed a longer recovery period.

Ultimately, he chose to forego the surgery. But NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah said teams didn’t express too much worry about how Carter would bounce back. As long as he comes out of his Pro Day alright, the former Penn State star’s status likely won’t change.

“I didn’t talk to teams that were too overly concerned there,” Jeremiah said on The Rich Eisen Show. “There were the two options – you can kind of rest it and then still go through the process in the spring, or you could have the surgery. I enquired, ‘Hey, if he has the surgery, now it’s obviously a longer recovery. Is that a major issue?’ It sounds like that’s a little more commonplace than maybe I thought. I didn’t gather there was a ton of concern there with him.

“But he goes to his Pro Day, we’ll see. what that looks like. If he comes out of that looking good and feeling good, he’s not gonna move on my list.”

Surgery would’ve meant an eight-week recovery for Carter, meaning he’d be unable to work out until after the NFL Draft in April. By avoiding the operation, he’s able to continue progressing through the spring, including Penn State’s Pro Day March 28.

Carter led the nation with 23.5 tackles for loss while totaling 68 tackles and 12.0 sacks while helping Penn State to a national semifinal. He has generated buzz as one of the top prospects on the board in this year’s NFL Draft, and there’s even speculation he could go No. 1 overall.

But with surgery even being an option, there was concern about how Abdul Carter would be able to perform the rest of the spring and even into OTAs. His agent Drew Rosenhaus of Rosenhaus Sports said the expectation is Carter will be able to participate at the Pro Day without missing a beat.

“We fully expect Abdul to be recovered in time to work out at his pro day at Penn State,” Rosenhaus said. “And he will perform at a very high level.”