Dewayne
Carter.
Dewayne
Carter.
Duke· 6'2"· 302 lb· 4.99s 40
"Duke's only three-time captain is a floor-first interior lineman whose hands and leverage buy him early-down trust, but whose average burst caps him well short of a designed disruptor."Pre-draft read
Carter played the full interior spectrum at Duke, sliding from nose to three-technique to a head-up five on passing downs, and his identity is hand placement and leverage rather than first-step violence. He wins the strike with 11-inch hands, keeps his pads under the blocker's chest, and works half-man to shed on the second effort, which is why his tackle production stayed steady even when the game plan asked him to two-gap.
As a rusher he is a grinder: long-arm to push-pull, a serviceable club-swim inside, and enough motor to arrive late on scrambles. The burst is average, so his pressure comes from persistence and stunt timing. The signature is durability of technique — the same rep, snap 60 as snap 1.
Multiple front with early-down two-gap responsibility; fits 3-4 base and even fronts that ask the interior to control blocks first
Year 1: run-down interior rotation across the front, 25-35 snaps a game. Ceiling: three-down base starter at 1-tech who plays 50 percent of snaps and sets the edge of the pocket.
A one-gap attacking penetrator scheme that grades interior linemen on pressure rate and asks the three-technique to shoot gaps on every snap — his get-off will not generate that pressure.
Value spikes for a defense that rotates four or five interior bodies and prizes gap integrity over splash.
DeWayne Carter 2022 Regular Season Highlights | Duke DT
His most disruptive college season: 11 TFL and 5.5 sacks.
“Mr. Duke” || DT DeWayne Carter 2023 Highlights
Redshirt senior tape, heavy double-team diet as team MVP and captain.
DeWayne Carter 2021 Season Highlights | Duke DL
Early breakout reps showing hand usage across multiple alignments.
A five-year Duke defender who became the program's only three-time captain, Carter is the definition of a floor-first interior lineman. He is compact and thick at 302 pounds with 33-inch arms and rare hand size, and he plays with the kind of pad level and gap discipline that lets a coordinator leave him on the field on early downs without hedging.
The production says role player with peaks: 118 tackles and 24.5 tackles for loss across 52 games, with a 2022 season of 11 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks that stands as his clearest disruption year. The 2023 tape was heavier on double teams and lighter on splash — 3.5 tackles for loss — which is the flag. When he is asked to be the shock absorber, the box score empties out, and there is no elite trait to pull him out of it.
Boards had him as a fourth-round value with a mid-third ceiling; the consensus read was scheme-versatile depth with starter-level intelligence, not a designed disruptor. Buffalo taking him at 95 was a bet on the football character and the alignment flexibility, buying a rotation piece who could be trusted on run downs from day one.
- 01
Hand size and strike
11-inch hands land first and stick, letting him control the blocker's frame before the guard can reset his base.
- 02
Leverage discipline
plays under his pads snap after snap, which lets him hold a gap against down blocks without getting washed.
- 03
Alignment versatility
took real reps from nose to five-technique at Duke and understood the assignment change in each spot.
- 04
Motor and finish
chases laterally and shows up on late-down scrambles, the kind of effort tackles that keep drives honest.
- 05
Football character
Duke's only three-time captain and an ACC Jim Tatum Award winner, with the processing to match the resume.
- 01
Average get-off
the first step does not threaten a guard's set point, so he rarely creates pressure before contact is made.
- 02
Limited pass-rush plan
long-arm and push-pull carry most of the workload; the counter menu thins out once the first move stalls.
- 03
Splash regression
went from 11 tackles for loss in 2022 to 3.5 in 2023, and the double-team volume only partly explains the drop.
- 04
Short-area burst
4.99 speed with a 1.72 ten-yard split caps how much ground he closes on the quarterback once the pocket moves.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.99sp50
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- 109inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.95sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.75sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Duke | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Duke | 11 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Duke | 12 | 36 | 4.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2022 | Duke | 13 | 35 | 5.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | Duke | 13 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Career | — | 52 | 118 | 12 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational interior body with good hands and limited rush upside, valuable but never a focal point.
Sturdy, low-pad interior anchor who turns run-down reliability into a long starting career.
Injuries stack up and the rotational role never converts into a defined snap share before the contract runs out.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Buffalo used him exactly as advertised as a rookie: rotational interior snaps on run downs, some second-and-long work, 11 games and 10 tackles with eight pressures before a wrist injury required surgery in late October 2024 and ended the season on injured reserve. The 2025 season never happened at all — he tore an Achilles in the days before the opener and went on IR on September 4, wiping out the entire year of development. He returned to the field in OTAs in the spring of 2026 and reported to training camp on time, entering a make-or-break third season with no accumulated NFL evidence behind him.
In hindsight the evaluation was accurate and the calendar was cruel. Nothing on tape suggested a designed disruptor, and Buffalo did not pay for one — they paid for a durable, high-IQ rotation lineman, and the durability is the part that broke. Two lost seasons in a row mean he now has to win a job on trait projection that was never the selling point. The pick still reads as reasonable value at 95; the outcome remains unwritten because he has barely been allowed to play.