THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Scouts really need to look at Carter

Any other year …

Well, in any other year, the Seahawks would learn of Jalen Carter’s role in the deaths of two friends last month, and say simply that it was a tragic loss of life.

However …

This is most certainly not any other year.

On the evening of April 27, Seattle will have the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL draft, and that’s the general neighborhood that most scouts expected Carter, Georgia’s quick and bruising defensive tackle, to be drafted.

As it stood just three days ago, it was thought almost certain that either Carter or Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. would be the first non-quarterback off the board.

Now?

No one really knows.

CBS Sports distributed a mock draft on Thursday morning, and Carter was projected to slide all the way to No. 17.

That’s a dramatic tumble, based on what — so far — are simply misdemeanor charges for reckless driving and racing.

Clearly, though, there is a fear hanging over NFL teams that Carter’s involvement in the fatal crash perhaps could lead to a felony indictment.

BY THE time of the draft, each team’s investigation — not to mention all-out scrutiny from the league itself — will have shed more light on the awful events of Jan 15.

As one personnel director put it: “If we’re talking about just two misdemeanors for a player of Carter’s talent, it would probably fade away.

“The NFL is still the NFL.”

But if a longer look at the crash (and Carter’s entire background), produces something a little more cloudy, various teams may have to make difficult individual decisions.

In 1998, 20 teams passed on Marshall wide receiver Randy Moss because of so-called “character issues,” which turned out to be smoking pot and getting into a fistfight in his old hometown.

The teams that declined to draft at Moss no doubt wished they had been a little more forgiving.

On the other hand, that was a bit of pot (now legal in plenty of states, including Washington) along with a few uppercuts.

That’s not quite the same as driving in excess of 100 miles per hour in the sleepy town of Athens, Ga. — with two people dying at the end of it.

For context …

There are so many mock drafts produced around this time of year that only a few selections turn out to be correct.

Some speculation, though, has seemed almost too obvious to ignore.

It’s been considered a lock that the Bears (No. 1) will trade that pick to a quarterback-needy team for the right to select Alabama’s Bryce Young.

A second QB, either C.J. Stroud (Ohio State) or Kentucky’s Will Levis, will go someplace very high with Houston, Indy and Carolina all desperate enough to trade up.

One mock went with the three quarterbacks at the top, Carter to the Bears at No. 4 (after a mock trade, but prior to news of the tragedy), leaving the defense-hungry Seahawks to grab Alabama’s gifted Anderson at No. 5.

There seemed to be a consensus that, though, that if the first four choices involved only two QBs, then Carter and Anderson would be out of Seattle’s reach.

At No. 5, according to most mocks, Seattle would grab the second-ranked edge, Tyree Wilson of Texas Tech.

Wilson is considered far more than a consolation prize, as scouts are almost unanimous that at 6-6 and 275 pounds, with long arms and unique combination of strength and agility, he could be an immediate impact player as a pro.

All those informed guesses, however, were based on two things …

First, that Carter would be among the first four selections.

Second, that Seattle would not startle everyone by taking a quarterback with the fifth pick (more on that in next Tuesday’s Cheap Seats).

IT’S RARE that the draft is shaken by an event quite this stunning.

Two young people have died.

Needlessly.

That horrible event makes the NFL’s distribution of talent seem almost irrelevant.

For now.

The league and the millions who follow it religiously will say the right things in this moment of shock, but as always, this giant called pro football will be back in the headlines — just for sporting reasons — remarkably soon.

By the time of the draft, though?

Not so sure.

On the other hand …

Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, about Carter’s involvement in those deaths will be spelled out in depth on each team’s draft board.

The puzzle, of course, will occur if there is no clear-cut answer — no matter how hard everyone looks.

He obviously was irresponsible, to an almost crazy degree, and two people died somewhere in those few minutes of madness.

CARTER no doubt he will plead innocence, and certainly show remorse at the loss of his friends.

He will remind everyone (especially the NFL) that he was not driving the car in which they died.

So …

In that case, teams will have to come to their own decisions about Jalen Carter, and his prolific talent weighed against a deadly (but brief?) lack of common sense.

Early this week, the Seahawks figured to have almost no chance to find Carter remaining on the board at No. 5.

Now, more than most other teams, they have to start the process of investigating — and deciding what circumstances would allow them to call Jalen Carter’s name on the night of the draft.

Or to pass on him.

This is a player compared to the Rams’ all-world tackle Aaron Donald — and who plays a position that could offer a huge reboot to the Seahawks defense.

Consider discussions already started.

Tough ones.

COMING: Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider each have hinted this week that they might draft a quarterback — even using the fifth overall choice.

In Tuesday’s Cheap Seats, we’ll look from every possible angle at whether or not they actually might pick a QB.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”