Duron Carter goes from the Alouettes to the Colts, the next in the wave of CFLers heading to the NFL

We've seen numerous CFL players go on to NFL success lately, from Cam Wake to Jerrell Freeman to Brandon Browner to Jon Ryan to Chris Matthews, and wide receiver Duron Carter may be part of the next wave. Carter, who earned a CFL all-star nod for his play with the Montreal Alouettes this past year, has been working out for numerous NFL teams this offseason, and he officially signed with the Indianapolis Colts Monday. Carter, a 6'5'', 205-pound receiver and the son of NFL Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter, has long had impressive potential. However a turbulent college career that saw him bounce between schools meant there wasn't initially a ton of NFL interest in him, leading him to head north of the border. As Matt Miller told 55-Yard Line in January, Carter's CFL success over the last two seasons helped make him more attractive to NFL teams:

That's been a big part of the story for a lot of the guys who have gone from the CFL to the NFL. Most have had exceptional physical talent, but been initially overlooked by the NFL thanks to size concerns (Wake) or perhaps coming from a less-prominent college (Ryan, Browner, Matthews). The CFL's served as a place for them to show what they can do against professionals, and the success of some players who have come from the CFL has caused many more NFL teams to be interested in CFL players. That, combined with several other factors (such as the 2012 expansion of NFL offseason rosters to 90 players and the 2014 CFL CBA allowing single-season contracts), has led to large numbers of players heading from the CFL to the NFL each offseason. This offseason alone, Carter, former Ticats' CB Delvin Breaux (now with the New Orleans Saints), former Stamps' DE Shawn Lemon (now with the Pittsburgh Steelers), former Eskimos' offensive lineman Matt O'Donnell (now with the Cincinnati Bengals, again), former Argos' CB Jalil Carter (now with the Vikings) and former Bombers' LB Ian Wild (now with the Steelers) have already signed NFL deals, and several other pending free agents (Riders' offensive lineman Ben Heenan, perhaps Ticats' KR/PR Brandon Banks, perhaps Stamps' C Brett Jones) may follow them.

The challenges in becoming a regular NFL contributor are myriad, though, and Matthews' story illustrates that. He certainly has the physical skills to play in the NFL, as shown by his four-catch, 109-yard performance in Sunday's Super Bowl, but he didn't even make it through training camp with Seattle initially. He was cut by the Seahawks in late August, spent a couple of days on their practice squad, and then was completely released. Many would have given up and headed back to Canada to play at that point, but Matthews trained on his own for six weeks and then was called back to the Seahawks in late October. However, he still wasn't activated from the practice squad until December, and he didn't record a catch until the Super Bowl.

It's becoming more and more apparent recently that there are plenty of skilled football players out there, but only a few of them will ever wind up on an NFL active roster. Moreover, only a few of those will ever make much of an impact. Sometimes, it's as much a function of luck, timing and fit with a team as it is a function of physical ability. We'll see how this works out for Carter and the other CFLers headed to the NFL this offseason. They certainly have plenty of talent, but will that translate into NFL stardom, or will some of them wind up coming back before too long?