Colin Cowherd wants everyone to start apologizing to Todd McShay while admitting to that word beginning with W. It’s all because a draft analysis that sounded so controversial in December now rings true in mid-March.
Of course, we’re talking Jalen Carter, the big defensive lineman from Georgia, the two-time defending national champions. Coming into the NFL Combine late last month, some analysts viewed Carter as the top player available. And there was consensus that he was top five to maybe top 10. But that’s all changed.
“The media is great at taking a comment and criticizing a politician, a CEO, a media person.” Colin Cowherd said on radio show Thursday to build up to Todd McShay.
“They’re great at that, that’s easy. But what happens if that person is right? Do you retract the opinion? Do you come back and acknowledge, that controversial opinion was right? No, the media doesn’t. The media does a lousy job of that. All of us are great at ripping people, but when they’re right and we’re wrong, we should address that. That’s fair.”
Colin Cowherd Threw It Back to a December Moment with Todd McShay
First, let’s go back to what McShay said about Carter. It was mid-December. As expected, top-ranked Georgia earned an invite to the College Football Playoffs. McShay is a long-time draft analyst for ESPN. And he provided reports on which of the players in the playoffs would be coveted by the pros.
Here’s what he said about Carter:
“It’s interesting with Carter. We all agree, it doesn’t take a super scout to figure out that he’s a phenomenal player in the interior. With Carter, there’s some character issues: Does he get along with everybody? What’s he like to deal with in the locker room? Those sorts of issues.”
McShay also added: “I know it’s early in the process, but I’m forewarning everyone out there — Carter’s going to be kind of a hot-button name when we talk about some of the intangible aspects of it.”
“That will be the big discussion. It’s not about his talent, his size or his explosive take off or finishing as a pass rusher, it’s about the character and do we want to bring that guy into the building.”
As Colin Cowherd mentioned, Todd McShay took all sorts of criticism for making accurate comments two-plus months before everyone else figured it out. And with everyone posting their hot takes on social media, McShay swatted away a lot of incoming insults. Carter’s teammates came to his defense. And other journalists slapped back at McShay. Here’s an example of such an article.
And here’s a post presenting the comments and casting doubt on them.
Police Charged Carter with 2 Counts of Reckless Driving
Now, if you’ve followed the Carter case, you know why Colin Cowheard wants folks to acknowledge Todd McShay was correct. Georgia police charged Carter with two counts of reckless driving. They believe he was racing with a car driven by a Georgia staffer. That SUV crashed and two people died.
“Last three weeks, he’s been very right,” Colin Cowherd said, continuing his defense of Todd McShay. “In three weeks, Jalen Carter got caught in a drag racing incident that killed two people. He left the scene. Two people died that he knew. I’d say that’s a character red flag. He also refused to work out at the Combine. That’s concerning. He also, recently…got pulled over and fined $1,000 for another speeding incident.”
Carter only did position drills at his pro day in Athens earlier this week. He skipped the running and agility tests as he showed up clearly out of shape. No doubt stress is playing a part.