PHILADELPHIA — At the top of the NFL defensive tackle rankings sits Giants’ Dexter Lawrence and Chiefs’ Chris Jones, two of the players Eagles star Jalen Carter must outperform to be considered the best player at his position.
After making second-team All-Pro last season, Carter closed the gap between him and the league’s other elite defensive tackles.
His dominant performance during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run helped him earn consideration as one of the NFL’s brightest stars. During his third NFL season (2025), the Eagles’ 2023 first-round draft pick could take over more games to prove that he is better than Lawrence and Jones.
“Pretty much everything because every game we play is always going to be one mistake where I thought I was the best at it, but it showed in film that some offensive line studied me and got me off that and made me look bad or whatever,” Carter told reporters after Tuesday’s OTA practice about where he needs to improve. “So you just got to work on everything. That’s what we’re doing every day.”
Last season, former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner, told Eagles legend LeSean McCoy that Carter is as talented as him. By the end of Carter’s career, perhaps he will be in the same conversation with Donald as the best defensive tackle of his era.
Based on what former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said this past week about Carter, it would not be surprising.
“Word is on the street is he doesn’t even know how to play the position yet,” Trotter told 94 WIP. “From (the) guys I talk to inside, he doesn’t even know how to play the position yet. He’s just playing off of raw talent. The sky is the limit for this kid.”
If Carter turned into an All-Pro without knowing how to play the position, imagine what type of player he’ll become once his technique gets better. At some point — as early as this season — he could be unblockable.
“I agree with the point he’s trying to make,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Tuesday about Trotter’s comments. “I do think Jalen — the good news about Jalen is twofold. One, he played very well for us last year, and two, he can still improve a lot.”
In 2024, Carter amassed 42 tackles, four-and-a-half sacks and had the fifth-most pressures (75) in the NFL — not as impressive as Lawrence, who amassed nine sacks and 44 tackles in his sixth season.
Soon, Carter could have the best production among interior defensive linemen, including the most sacks.
“This is what I wanted to do,” Carter said. “I want to be the best at what I do and try to be the best. I’m not there yet. Still got a lot of people in front of me who’ve obviously been in the league a couple years. Got years of experience on me.
“I am just (going to) keep learning every day and not just by myself working on specific things to get better. Just being around the team. Having the guys support me also made me want to be one of the best in the league.”
The Eagles didn’t want to take Carter off the field last season, playing him on 84% of their defensive snaps.
Compared to his rookie season, Carter was in better shape, making it easier to handle a larger workload.
He set the tone for Philadelphia’s defense, which ranked as the league’s No. 1 unit in 2024, in the NFC Divisional Round when he sacked Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford on his 68th snap of the game and pressured him on his 69th play to prevent Los Angeles from scoring a game-winning touchdown on the final drive of the Eagles’ playoff victory.
Philadelphia will have a lot of talent again on defense this year, but nobody has more upside than Carter, a potential DPOY candidate.
NFL teams should be scared that Carter is raw at the position and has already experienced a ton of success. He could wreck their game plans for the next decade like Jones and Donald were able to do and like Lawrence has done to a certain extent.
“(Eagles running back Saquon Barkley) said Dex was a monster too. (The) stuff he is doing is crazy. He said the stuff I’m doing is kind of relatable,” Carter said. “Dex is just big and strong. Like he can pull every plate. And I watch his film. I’m watching all the guys film, and I’m getting everything from them.”
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Cayden Steele may be reached atCSteele@njadvancemedia.com