Anthony Gharib, ESPN
The Baltimore Ravens are coasting.
They gained over 500 yards in a 37-3 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in November 2023, while the Seattle Seahawks managed just 151 yards. Lamar Jackson surpassed the Seattle Seahawks himself with 247 yards to start another MVP season.
Baltimore found a sweet spot. The win marked the Ravens’ fourth straight victory, solidifying their status as a Super Bowl contender.
As Jackson strolled the sidelines, something in the crowd piqued his interest.
Hours earlier, Ravens fan Gordon Carnell approached Ravens equipment manager Jordan Brown and prepared a custom rug for Jackson. It’s handcrafted from acrylic yarn and depicts Jackson’s throwing motion. Cartnell was planning to hand the ball over to the Ravens quarterback on one play and told Brown about it.
“He’s my favorite player in the NFL. Basically, his favorite athlete of all time,” Cartnell told ESPN.
Brown grabbed Jackson and pointed at Cartnell, who was grinning from ear to ear in the stands and proudly boasting about the carpet. Brown explained that Cartnell was going to give it to him, but before Brown could finish, Jackson interrupted.
“I want that,” he said. “Tell him. I want the damn rug.”
Jackson got the damn rug. Brown, who won the trophy for the two-time MVP, approached Cartnell after the game, petted him, signed his jersey and thanked him.
NFL Films released the entire sideline exchange in which Jackson found the carpet, and it quickly went viral on social media. The quarterback cheers are exactly what Cartnell weaves.
The Houston Texans flew Cartnell to NRG Stadium to deliver carpet to C.J. Stroud, who stopped to express his gratitude for the job.
“Texans were DMing me on Instagram through the Real Texans page,” he recalled. “They said they wanted to do CJ, so I sent them some ideas. We agreed on a photo and then I made the carpet. They took me out and I met them at the game and talked to them on the sidelines, and it was – It was my first time flying and everything was great.”
Houston sent a plane to deliver the carpet on Cartnell’s birthday, during last season’s wild-card game against the Cleveland Browns.
Throughout all of his collaborations, Cartnell’s mission remains the same: spread positivity and celebrate athlete achievements in a unique format.
“If there’s anything I can do to bring some joy to someone else, put a smile on their face, whatever I can do to bring some positivity into the world, amidst all the negativity, I’m definitely willing to do it That,” Cartnell said.
These rugs are a way to solidify “everything they do in an instant.” Whether it’s Jackson or Stroud’s throwing motion, his intent is clear.
Cartnell described the piece as “one of a kind” because the rug was handmade. a rug He is Ravens running back Derrick Henry took him 36 hours.
The running back’s reaction to that raised eyebrows and was similar to Jackson’s. Ravens linebacker Marlon Humphrey also has one waiting for him.
The NBA reached out to Cartnell to provide a rug for Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James during the Las Vegas Summer League. ESPN reached out to Cartnell for an article ahead of the 2023 Army-Navy game. Show on collection “College GameDay.” Carmelo Anthony also lent a helping hand — though Cartnell wouldn’t say whether that paid off.
But no matter who receives his custom rug, Cartnell aspires to achieve the same goal.
“I just want to put a smile on people’s faces through the art I create,” he said.
Known as “112rugs” — inspired by his birthday, January 12th — he’s known among the Ravens community as the “rug man.” As a die-hard Ravens fan, most of his rugs are Baltimore-centric, but Cartnell isn’t opposed to making rugs for opponents.
“At the end of the day, business is business,” he said.
He kept his word and threw one to Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Quiz Watkins this season.
A native of Baltimore, Cartnell is currently a graduate student at Stevenson University in Maryland. He is studying criminal investigation and hopes to join the police academy and eventually the FBI. It’s a far cry from the tufted and acrylic yarns he runs on the side.
“It feels like I’m here, there, everywhere,” he said. “But it’s like wherever God calls me, that’s where I go.”
His education was the spark that shaped his rug making journey. While in school, he started thinking about business ideas and stumbled upon a YouTube video of someone making custom rugs. Out of curiosity, Cartnell used her college refund check to buy supplies and taught herself how to knit by watching social media videos.
When the materials arrived in March 2023, Cartnell, who had no background in art, threw himself into studying.
It turns out the basics are a burning problem. The tufting didn’t work, the yarns kept breaking and a lot of the rugs ended up in the trash.
But these challenges haven’t derailed Cartnell’s vision.
After long school days and a shift at Home Depot, he came home and started making rugs.
“There were days where I was just like… ‘I kind of want to throw this out and try something new,'” Cartnell said. “But I just persevered.”
The trial and error phase lasted every day for a month and a half. Eventually, he learned the craft.
Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman’s rug ended up being his first as a professional athlete. Soon after, he was working with the Orioles on the carpet for shortstop Gunnar Henderson.
Since then, Cartnail’s business has entered a word-of-mouth phase. While he works hard to promote himself to potential clients and navigate the business side of things, he is equally focused on ensuring the quality and authenticity of his work.
“I don’t want to just sell people low-quality rugs,” he said. “I want to make sure that, if I make something, it’s something that people like and that catches their eye.”
The attention from Baltimore’s quarterback changed everything.
Two weeks before the viral exchange, Cartnell met Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers at a gas station. Cartnell told him about his work, and Flowers asked for a design for his new house. Cartnell said he would make one in exchange for Flowers’ spread, and the receiver agreed.
The rugs made for Flowers and Jackson were created to give them to each player. But Cartnell couldn’t have predicted the reaction to Jackson’s work. Little did he know that NFL Films captured the moment.
Cartnail revealed that he was house-sitting at his aunt’s house when a friend told him about the Instagram post that went viral. After stepping out to watch the video, he quickly returned and what had been a gloomy day became less gloomy.
His social media stopped working. Within a few hours, his follower count soared from 9,000 to 32,000. His parents advised him to soak it all in and enjoy the moment. He still has thousands of unopened private messages from that “surreal” day.
“I’m not saying I have nothing [before]but all I have to fight for is maybe one or two orders here or there…'” Cartnell said. “To the thousands of people who flooded my DMs. It’s kind of like an overwhelming feeling. “
Customers started coming in and the business continued to grow. Cartnell finally began selling his rugs.
It’s been much the same story this NFL season, highlighted by an emotional moment when he gave a rug depicting her late son to the mother of former Texans and Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones .
“That was really special to me…No matter what I do, I always want to do something special and touch someone more than just seeing a custom rug,” Cartnell said.
