The 49ers have had their eye on WR Duron Carter for some time, and reports Thursday indicated they'll be stepping up that interest in the near future. Carter, a WR who averaged over 75 receiving yards per game in his rookie season with the Montreal Alouettes, is eligible to sign with any NFL team on February 10.
Carter, son of Hall of Fame WR Cris Carter, began his college career at Ohio State in 2009. Classes never seemed to be a priority for Carter, though, and he was forced to transfer to Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College after being ruled academically inelegible at OSU. Carter impressed at Coffeyville, but ran into more academic issues after transferring to Alabama. Carter never became eligble to play for the Crimson Tide, and ended up transferring a third time after a suspension landed him in Nick Saban's doghouse.
Carter's next stop at Florida Atlantic was slightly better from an academic standpoint - he maintained a 3.0 - but he was never cleared to play because of lingering red tape from his three transfers. Despite not having played a down of D1 football since his freshman year, Carter's size and skills earned him a tryout in the CFL - he's 6'5 with a classic WR build. In Montreal, Carter impressed a number of NFL scouts who had written him off after his academic issues, and the 49ers were one of several teams tracking his progress through the fall.
Bleacher Report's Matt Miller indicated the 49ers already had a workout scheduled with Carter, but that was quickly shot down by Carter's agent (by way of Sacramento Bee 49ers reporter Matt Barrows). Still, both parties agree that the 49ers have serious interest in Carter, who already has workouts scheduled with the Vikings and the Browns. The Colts and the Seahawks also had interest during the season, but neither have a workout scheduled with him at this time.
Expect San Francisco's interest in Carter to heat up significantly once Jed York officially hires a new coach - as Barrows said on Twitter, York and the front office are a little busy with that at the moment.
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