Zachary
Carter.
Zachary
Carter.
Florida· 6'4"· 282 lb· 4.99s 40
Carter is a heavy-handed, versatile interior lineman who spent his Florida career moving along the front. He played 3-technique, 4i and true defensive end, and the constant is power: long arms, a violent initial punch and the strength to press an offensive lineman off his frame and work down the line. Against the run he holds his gap and sheds late.
As a rusher he is a builder rather than a burster. His get-off is average, so he wins with a bull rush, a long-arm and a swipe that counters off the power, collapsing the pocket instead of running the arc. He converts speed to power well for his size and finishes what he creates. What he does not have is the twitch to beat a set guard cleanly or the bend to turn a corner from a wide alignment.
A multiple front that lets him play base end on early downs in odd spacing and slide to 3-technique on passing downs, with a rotation that keeps his snap count in the forties.
Year 1: rotational interior rusher who plays 25 to 30 snaps and spells both the 3-technique and the base end. Ceiling: a full-time starting 3-technique whose value is run defense and pocket compression rather than sack totals.
A one-gap penetrating front built on get-off and first-step wins, where his average quickness leaves him blocked before his hands ever matter.
He needs a defense that asks him to win with length and leverage, not with the snap of the ball.
Zach Carter Florida Gators career highlights: Zach Attacks
The career reel across four seasons: long-arm power, gap control and the alignment versatility Florida used.
Florida DL Zachary Carter Highlights | 2022 NFL Draft
Draft-cycle breakdown of the redshirt senior year, when he posted 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks.
Zachary Carter Florida Gators 2022 Pro Day Highlights
Pro-day workout showing the movement skills and the frame that put him between end and interior.
Carter is a five-year Florida lineman who grew into his frame and his role. He redshirted in 2017, played nine games as a rotational rusher in 2018, then found a home inside as the Gators moved him up and down the front. At 6-4 and 285 pounds on draft day he had the arm length and play strength of a base end and the bulk to hold up over a guard.
The production built steadily. He posted 31 tackles with seven for loss and 4.5 sacks in 13 games in 2019, then led Florida with 9.5 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2020, a season that included a 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown. He turned down the 2021 draft, returned as a redshirt senior and delivered his best year: 32 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks in 12 games, second-team All-SEC. His career line reads 107 tackles, 28 for loss and 17.5 sacks across 46 games.
The board saw a scheme-flexible power player rather than a premium rusher: not explosive enough to be an every-down edge, not quite stout enough to be a nose, but useful as a base end in an odd front or a 3-technique in an even one. Cincinnati, coming off a Super Bowl run and trying to rebuild the interior, took him at 95 as a rotational piece with starter upside.
- 01
Play strength
Long arms and a violent punch let him press blockers off his chest, control a gap and stack the point against down blocks and doubles.
- 02
Positional versatility
Played 3-technique, 4i and defensive end at Florida, which gives a coordinator four alignments to hide or feature him in.
- 03
Power rush
Converts speed to power well for 285 pounds; the bull rush and long-arm collapse pockets and are his most repeatable NFL wins.
- 04
Production curve
Improved every season and finished with 11 tackles for loss and eight sacks as a redshirt senior, earning second-team All-SEC honors.
- 05
Finishing
When he creates pressure he closes; he does not run past the quarterback, and his 17.5 career sacks came mostly on plays he built himself.
- 01
First-step quickness
Average get-off for the position; against a set interior blocker he rarely wins before contact, which caps his pass-rush ceiling.
- 02
Pass-rush plan
Leans heavily on power and lacks a developed counter sequence, so protected blockers can sit on the bull rush after the first quarter.
- 03
Tweener build
At 285 pounds he is light to anchor full-time inside and not explosive enough to hold up on the edge, needing the right front to fit.
- 04
Anchor against doubles
Gets moved off the line when a guard-center combination gets into him, particularly on down-and-distance runs at his gap.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.99sp50
- Vertical
- 27.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 110inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 19repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Florida | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | Florida | 13 | 31 | 4.5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | Florida | 12 | 36 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021 | Florida | 12 | 32 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Career | — | 46 | 107 | 17.5 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
Seasons include bowl games and sum exactly to the published career line of 46 games, 107 tackles, 28.0 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks, eight passes defensed, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. cfbstats (Florida team 235, player 1086854) lists 9.5 tackles for loss in 2020 and 11.0 in 2021 for regular-season play only; the bowl-inclusive figures are carried here. He redshirted in 2017, so no 2017 season is listed.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A rotational interior lineman who plays real early-down snaps, contributes against the run and rarely shows up in the box score.
The ceiling is a powerful interior starter who plays 700 snaps, holds up against the run and adds five or six sacks from pocket compression.
A Day 2 lineman whose lack of pass-rush juice leaves him on the roster bubble and moving between practice squads.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Zachary Carter has been a rotational defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals. He has contributed as a depth piece on the defensive line in his first two seasons.
Cincinnati used Carter as a rotational interior lineman immediately: 16 games and nine starts as a rookie in 2022 with 23 total tackles and half a sack, then 17 games with five starts in 2023 and no sacks. The Bengals released him in October 2024 after four games. Las Vegas signed him to the practice squad that same month and promoted him, and he played eight games with a sack. The Raiders re-signed him in March 2025 and cut him in August; Arizona added him to the practice squad in September, elevated him to the active roster in December and he appeared in four games with 13 tackles and a forced fumble. Through 2025 he has played 49 games with 16 starts, 81 total tackles and two career sacks.
The pick has not paid. The board's core question — is there enough juice here to rush the passer at a starter level? — was answered no almost immediately, and two sacks in four seasons is the kind of number that keeps a defensive lineman on the roster bubble. He is a real NFL player, one who has held a spot on three teams and starts when injuries force it, so this is not a total loss on a third-round pick. But the reason Cincinnati spent 95 on him was the thought that the power and the improvement curve would keep climbing, and it flattened out the day he arrived. A rotational body, not the piece they drafted.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2022 NFL draft player selections table.