Jalen Carter is starting to live up to his massive potential.
That’s scary for the rest of the NFL but huge for the Eagles as they make a Super Bowl push in 2024.
When asked who is benefitting most from Carter’s rising level of play, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio didn’t want to single any one player out.
“Our team,” Fangio said.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
And he’s right.
Eventually, Fangio mentioned Milton Williams as a beneficiary; and Williams has definitely been able to capitalize on plenty of 1-on-1s as Carter continually gets double-teamed by opposing offenses. But the bump in Carter’s play is really being felt by the entire No. 1-ranked Eagles defense.
While there are plenty of other very good players on that side of the ball, Carter has now taken his spot atop the list. He has been playing at an All-Pro level recently and barely leaves the field.
Philadelphia Eagles
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“We all have (benefitted),” Fangio said. “He’s caused some sacks for other people by applying the early pressure that makes the quarterback move and buys time for somebody else to get there. But really our team and our defense has prospered because of his play.”
Carter, 23, is coming off a fantastic performance in Sunday’s signature win over the Ravens. He had 4 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 QB hits and a sack. He played 71 of 72 defensive snaps and was doubled on 25 of 43 pass rushes.
He was also held by the Ravens on several plays but they were never flagged.
Fangio on Tuesday was asked if there’s anything the Eagles can do to help him get some of those calls.
“I don’t know,” Fangio said. “You got any ideas?”
Not really.
“There was one play in particular where he was grossly held and pulled to the ground and there was no call,” Fangio said. “So, yes, and I don’t know what we can do about it.”
It seems likely that Carter will eventually draw some of these calls if he just continues to play at this absurdly high level. There’s not much else he can do other than try to sell these holds a bit more.
The Eagles drafted Carter with the No. 9 overall pick last year and there were obviously some off-field questions about the defensive tackle from Georgia. But there were some on-field questions about conditioning and effort that he has now definitely answered in 2024.
All offseason, the big emphasis for Carter was conditioning. He talked about it, Fangio talked about it and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt talked about it. And now we see why.
Carter over the last three weeks has played 191 of 202 total defensive snaps — 94.6 percent. And for the season, Carter is up to 83% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps. To put that into perspective, that’s puts him up there among the league leaders in defensive tackle snap percentage in the NFL this season:
Chris Jones: 83.0%
Zach Allen: 82.6%
Jalen Carter: 82.5%
Those are three players who might end up battling it out down the stretch for the two All-Pro spots after Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence was lost for the season. The last Eagles' defensive tackle to be named an All-Pro was Fletcher Cox in 2018.
Carter has been putting together an impressive highlight reel this season, especially over the last month. Fangio on Tuesday was asked if there’s something that surprises him about Carter when he watches the tape.
“He has very good balance,” Fangio said. “He can be losing early, get his body in a bad position and he can recover.”
Carter this season has played in all 12 games and has 34 tackles, 4 1/2 sacks, 12 QB hits and 10 TFLs. He already has more tackles, QB hits and TFLs in 12 games than he did in 16 games last season. He also has four batted passes after not having one last year.
Last season, Carter got off to a fast start but fell off in the second half. He ended up losing the Defensive Rookie of the Year race. Even with the expanded workload, it doesn’t seem like any kind of drop-off is coming in 2024.
Not only that, but Carter is still getting better.
“Jalen is still a young player that needs to improve and he’s been very coachable and playing good football,” Fangio said.
Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Simplecast | RSS | Watch on YouTube
