Fairfield grad Carman on being drafted by Bengals: ‘I could not picture a better scenario’

Cincinnati had traded down from No. 38 to add two fourth-round picks from the Patriots, and the hometown NFL team chose Carman as an important addition to the offensive line tasked with protecting quarterback Joe Burrow.

“As soon as I saw the 513 pop up on my phone, it instantly just everything hit me at once,” Carman said on a Zoom news conference he did from the home of Fairfield High School coach Jason Krause, where he gathered with family and friends to watch the draft. “It was an amazing feeling and just knowing I was going to be able to be home was just indescribable.

“I could not picture a better scenario,” he added. “This just is crazy. Just like thinking about where the journey and the game of football has taken me in life and for it to bring me back to my family and my home is something I’m very proud of and excited for.”

Carman was a five-star recruit and the top prospect in Ohio from the Class of 2017, according to 247sports.com, as well as the No. 2 offensive tackle in the country coming out of Fairfield, where he played on three playoff teams.

A career offensive tackle, Carman will compete for a starting guard spot this year with the Bengals, but he doesn’t mind the position change for the chance to follow in the footsteps of some of his mentors and favorite players.

Carman, who graduated from Fairfield in December 2017, was born in Cincinnati but said he never had a favorite team – just favorite players and a rooting interest. He attended one preseason game against the Giants at Paul Brown Stadium but never had been to a regular-season NFL game. Now he can fully embrace the Bengals as his team.

“My favorite football player of all time has always been Anthony Munoz and just being able to watch his greatness and just like just everything that he’s been able to do, and just knowing that I’m going to be a part of an organization that’s breeding a pedigree like that as offensive lineman and also being close to guys like Willie Anderson (for pre-draft training) and Andrew Whitworth and knowing everything, the history of what the Bengals have to offer, it’s just amazing,” Carman said. “And, I’ve always rooted for the Bengals whenever they were playing just like because they’re my hometown team and stuff like that, so for me to be able to be in this position to be able to stay home and be with my family and like pour back into the community is awesome. So I’m super excited.”

Carman knew the Bengals would be an option because of their need for offensive linemen, and he’s prepared for the challenge of trying to protect the 2020 No. 1 pick.

A second-team All-ACC pick as a junior in 2020, he started 12 games at left tackle blocking for this year’s top overall pick, Trevor Lawrence. Carman was a starter on the 2019 team that lost to Burrow’s LSU Tigers in the national championship, a year after the Clemson Tigers won the title to cap a memorable 2018 season when Carman played in 13 games as a backup left tackle.

“That’s just been what I do,” Carman said about the task of blocking for Burrow. “I mean, I blocked for the No. 1 pick this year and so blocking for another No. 1 pick, same thing just going in and doing my job at the highest level. And it’s a blessing to be able to protect Joe Burrow, you know what I mean? And it’s even crazier just knowing that I was just playing against him two years ago so it was really an amazing full circle experience.”

Carman credited the tough, physical brand of football he played at Fairfield -- competing against top teams around southwest Ohio – as a key aspect to his development as one of the nation’s top offensive linemen.

After enrolling early at Clemson, Carman quickly made the transition to college football as part of that national championship team and became a full-time starter the following season. Some thought Carman went off the board sooner than he should have, likely because of Jan. 19 back surgery that caused him to miss his March 11 pro day event, but the Bengals had no hesitations.

Carman played his final five games at Clemson with a herniated disc and said he recovered well from surgery. The Bengals could have taken any number of lineman at No. 38 before deciding it was safe to trade down with options like Carman on the board.

“We felt like there would be some good options moving back eight spots,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “Then we get some good ammunition for later in the draft. In hindsight, we feel good about our decision. We got a guy we were really high on.”

Added Taylor, “I think he has tremendous athleticism. There’s a lot of things we like about this guy. He can anchor, pass protect, and has great movement in the run game. He has high football intelligence. In talking to him over Zoom the last few weeks, it’s really impressive how quickly he’ll walk in and understand the schemes. He’s just a really impressive person when you talk to him.”

Offensive line coach Frank Pollack likes Carman’s size at 6-foot-5, 322 pounds and nimble feet. The Bengals expect him to compete at guard right away and potentially be a long-term option at tackle.

“He’s going to come in and compete for a starting job this year, no question,” Pollack said.