#59

 

CRIS CARTER

He was the second-best receiver to ever wear a Minnesota Vikings uniform and one of the best ever to play the game, but it didn’t start out that way for Cris Carter. As a young receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles and Buddy Ryan, Carter considered himself an invincible player who could go out and party all week and do his job on Sunday. Dedication and conditioning—two factors he would be known for throughout his tenure in Minnesota—were not of interest to him in Philadelphia.

Carter’s lack of dedication didn’t show on the field, as he caught 11 touchdown passes in 1989. But Ryan was not impressed because he believed Carter was more interested in alcohol and drugs than he was in helping the Eagles win football games. In a move that shocked those outside Philadelphia, Ryan cut the productive Carter.

“Buddy Ryan told me he couldn’t depend on me,” Carter said. “He didn’t know if I would flunk a drug test. He didn’t know what I might do.”

The move was the seminal moment in Carter’s life and career. He did not like what he saw when he looked in the mirror.

“After I got cut, I was driving across the Walt Whitman Bridge,” Carter said. “I had to call my wife and tell her I got cut. She was at home, pregnant with our first son. She had just graduated college and turned down a job offer to come to Philadelphia with me.”

The devastated Carter realized his misfortune was all of his own doing. He vowed to clean himself up and hasn’t had a drink since September 1990.

A receiver who can dominate in the red zone like Carter doesn’t stay unemployed very long. The Vikings called the next day to sign Carter, and they picked up a bona fide all-time great.

Carter had excellent leaping ability and great athleticism, but lacked the great stopwatch speed that personnel people look for when scouting receivers. Once Carter got to Minnesota, he became a tireless worker who did everything he could to get better on an everyday basis. Combining his physical gifts with that relentless attitude helped turn Carter into one of the NFL’s brightest stars.

During the 1994 season, Carter caught a league record 122 passes. He matched that total the following year, but Detroit’s Herman Moore edged past his record with 123 receptions. Seven years after that, Colts virtuoso receiver Marvin Harrison caught 143 passes to become the single-season record holder.

Carter played in an era when San Francisco’s Jerry Rice dominated and the Cowboys’ Michael Irvin also made headlines. As a result, Carter was one of the league’s most unappreciated superstars during the early part of his Minnesota career. However, all of his talents were cherished by head coach Dennis Green.

“I think Cris is more acrobatic and will make more difficult catches than those other guys,” Green said. “You see a pass that you think he has no chance to catch because it’s too high or will go out of bounds and then he does something that you don’t believe. He’ll dive for a ball and make a catch by scooping it or he will keep the tips of his toes in bounds while reaching over the barrier to make a catch. Nobody else can do it like Cris.”

Carter excelled at all aspects of the game, but it was his hands that made him special. Carter regularly bathed his best assets in paraffin and oil to sooth them and relax them. He took care of them and pampered them during the week—and they took care of him on Sundays.

The diving catch? Nobody did it better than Carter. But that’s just the start. Fingertip catches. Back-of-the-ball catches. One-handed diving catches. He was dominant in the red zone where he used his 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame and ability to catch anything he could get his hands on.

His trademark was the sideline catch, as he stretched like contortionist, his entire body out of bounds except for his tiptoeing feet. Nobody made those catches as often or as well as Carter.

A eight-time Pro Bowl selection, Carter’s acrobatic catches helped etch his name into the NFL record books. As of the writing of this book, he stands third all-time in receptions (1,101), fourth in receiving touchdowns (130), and seventh in receiving yards (13,899).

The addition of Warren Moon to the Vikings lineup in 1994 may have provided the impetus Carter needed to go from star player to one of the league’s all-time greats at the position. “Warren has meant a great deal to me,” Carter said during the middle of the ’94 season. “He’s so professional and such an accurate passer. The trade we made to get him makes it a lot easier to do my job.”

Carter, whose brother Butch played in the NBA for seven seasons, used a lot of basketball skills while on the football field. His athleticism, coordination, and ability to screen defensive backs from the ball were taken from his basketball instincts.

“You can tell a lot about a football player by the way he plays basketball,” said former Vikings head coach Bud Grant, who played in the NBA during his younger years. “Some guys worry about catching the ball but Cris is beyond that. If Cris got a hand or a finger on it, you knew he was going to bring it in. He was concerned about what he would do before he caught the ball and after he caught it, but he didn’t have to worry about catching it because he was so instinctive in that area.”

As Carter established himself as one of the team’s brightest stars, he took on more and more of a leadership role. Carter was not hesitant to tell the coaching staff if he thought the wrong play was called or to call out another player for making a mistake. Carter’s emotional nature may have rubbed some of his teammates the wrong way, but it was an honest reaction that he refused to keep bottled up.

“I’m an emotional guy and when I get upset on the football field I have a reason,” Carter said. “It was never about getting me the football more. If the tight end read the defense incorrectly, I’m all over the tight end. If the offensive coordinator calls a play that we didn’t practice during the week, I’m questioning him on the sidelines.”

Carter knew that his propensity for calling out players and coaches left him vulnerable if he didn’t continue to perform at a high level. That provided Carter with even more motivation to stay on top of his game.

“I can stay in the position I’m in only if I play at a high level,” he said. “If I don’t, then I lose my voice in the locker room.”

Carter’s demanding attitude was forged by Ryan’s decision to part company with him in Philadelphia. By showing his teammates “tough love” on a consistent basis, he was trying to force them to do their best on a consistent basis.