Carter played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2013 to 2016. He was a criminology and criminal justice major at Nebraska. He played in 13 games, starting 6, in 2013 and caught 10 passes for 127 yards. Carter was named a True Freshman All-American by 247Sports in 2013. He also earned Big Ten Honorable Mention All-Freshman honors. He played in 9 games, starting 8, in 2014, catching 6 passes for 98 yards and 1 touchdown. He missed four games at midseason due to a foot injury. Carter missed the first two games of the 2015 season. He then played in, and started, the final 11 games of the season, catching 24 passes for 329 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed twice for 48 yards and a 32-yard rushing touchdown in 2015, becoming the first tight end in school history to score a rushing touchdown. Carter was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the media in 2015. He played in 10 games, all starts in 2016, catching 19 passes for 190 yards and 1 touchdown. He also rushed three times for 34 yards. At midseason, Carter missed three whole games and most of a fourth due to an elbow injury. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by both the media and coaches in 2016. He played in 43 games, starting 35, during his college career, catching 59 passes for 744 yards and 4 touchdowns. His 59 receptions ranked fifth all-time in school history for a tight end. He also rushed 5 times for 84 yards and 1 touchdown.
Professional career
Carter was rated the 16th best tight end in the 2017 NFL Draft by NFLDraftScout.com. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com predicted that he would go undrafted and sign as a priority free agent, stating that Carter "lacks the size and ability to sustain at the point of attack to handle in-line blocking duties on the next level" and that "He may not have the hands or route separation to handle pass-catching duties on the next level and he has played sparingly on special teams. To carve out a spot on a roster, Carter will have to prove that he can do one of those things well." After going undrafted, Carter signed with the Cincinnati Bengals on May 5, 2017. On September 1, 2018, Carter was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. On December 15, 2019, Carter scored his first NFL touchdown against the New England Patriots. He finished the season with two receptions for 13 yards. He is also a core special teams player for the Cincinnati Bengals, as he has racked up 16 special teams tackles. Carter re-signed on a one-year restricted free agent contract with the Bengals on April 17, 2020.
