He's an inch taller then Willie who was listed at 270. At 296 he put up a better short shuttle than Posluszney (238) and a better 3-cone than Willis (242), he's better than Gaines Adams (258) and Anthony Spencer (261) in both categories. If he can run a 4.7-ish at his Pro-day, then I see no reason Woicik & Nash couldn't help him maintain his weight in the 280-285 range and translate those test scores more effectively to the playing field. Unlike the Klecko reference above, he would have a "natural" position to move to at DE if he was to be tested and fail at OLB. On the positive vision side, picture a FB or TE trying to block him on the edge...
As for pooling picks and moving up, it seems the only way he would be drafted by the Pats. I would debate those who say he isn't worth drafting that high by noting the comparison to #6 (2001) overall Richard Seymour as a DE, and the chance he might become another McGinest #4 (1994) overall. With the draft value chart equivalent of #8 sitting in those two 1st round picks, Carriker isn't over-valued in that sense. Whether pooling the two picks and moving up "this year" is the best value is a matter of opinion (and our's doesn't matter), so we can cheerfully speculate and cringe to our hearts content.
EDIT: I'm catching up on my DVR workload and just watched NFL Network's
Path To The Draft with Mike Mayock discussing DL: he showed game tape of Carriker dropping into coverage in a zone blitz and making a nice open field tackle on a scrambling QB. The more I learn about this kid, the more I see to say he has the talent to make the transition to 3-4 OLB. Mayock described Carriker as the DL with the best hands in the draft, that will translate well to 3-4 DE or OLB.
