Ki-Jana Carter, maybe the biggest bust in franchise history, considering he was the first pick in the draft, was an All-American and the Heisman runner-up in ’94 and the Rose Bowl MVP in ’95. The Bengals acquired the number one pick in the draft via a trade with the expansion Carolina Panthers, and couldn’t wait to grab their star running back of the future. Unfortunately, like many things for Cincinnati, it did not go according to plan.
Welcome to part two of this series where we take a quick look at prior number 1 picks by the Bengals. Today’s player is none other than Ki-Jana Carter, the highly sought after running back from Penn St the Bengals took number one overall in the ’95 draft.
Injuries are the theme of Carter’s career. After signing a seven-year, $19.2 million deal (which was a NFL record for rookies at the time), he only ended up playing with the team until 1999. Ki-Jana tore a ligament in his knee on only his third carry of the first preseason game of his career and missed the entire ’95 season. Then in ’97, he tore his rotator cuff after 15 games and missed the last one. In ’98 he again missed the whole season after 1 game where he broke his wrist. And finally, in ’99, he played 3 games and then dislocated his kneecap and missed the rest of that season. Talk about your all-time bad luck.
Carter would go on to play for the Redskins in 2001, get cut by the Packers before the 2002 season and finally end his career with the Saints for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In all, Carter played in 59 games (35 with the Bengals), only starting 14 of them, racking up 1,144 career rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on 319 attempts. He also added 66 receptions for 469 yards with one score. Certainly not the way he, or anyone else for that matter, thought or hoped his career would go.
I suppose you’re starting to sense a pattern here with the Bengals and the number one overall pick in the draft, huh? Things haven’t looked too good so far. But in tomorrows’ article, we will take a look at the 2003 draft where the Bengals selected the big arm QB out of USC, Carson Palmer. It’s going to start getting better for the Bengals, right?