Jalen Carter still showing humility amid his early NFL dominance

[time2rock]

Jalen Carter still showing humility amid his early NFL dominance

Jalen Carter looks pretty unstoppable but the Eagles' rookie says there's still a ton to improve on.

By Dave Zangaro • Published October 10, 2023

 

Jalen Carter got a sheepish grin and gave a little chuckle when he heard the word.

Unstoppable.

As in, each week are you feeling more and more unstoppable?

"Nah, I wouldn’t say unstoppable,” Carter said on Sunday evening. "I still got a lot to improve, man. There’s a lot of plays out there where I could have won my rep but I got blocked that rep. So I just gotta get better every week.”

Carter, the 22-year-old rookie from Georgia, might not be unstoppable just yet. But he has been pretty darn close in his first five NFL games. It’s not hyperbolic to say that Carter is already one of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL.

On Sunday, in the Eagles’ 23-14 win over the Rams, Carter had the first two-sack game of his young NFL career. He’s the first Eagles rookie to have two sacks in a game since Derek Barnett in 2017 and he’s the first Eagles rookie DT to have two in a game since Corey Simon in 2000.

Carter gave the traveling Eagles fans at SoFi Stadium a little tip of the cap for helping him get off the ball faster.

"We had really learned their snap,” Carter said. "We had a lot of fans out there so it was loud. They had a little hand movement on the snap. It was really like the second time they threw it is when they was going to snap it. I used that as a point or whatever and I used that to get off faster.”

In addition to that, Carter said he worked with former player and new coach Matt Leo to study the Rams’ offensive linemen and was able to implement those findings on the field Sunday.

"The first sack, I almost missed him,” Carter said. "I guess I need to work on my tackling, but s—, almost missed him. Had the second move come in and seen him step up. I think Haason (Reddick) had rushed off the edge and made the quarterback step up so I went back outside and made a hit on the QB.

"The second sack, I had the slide and the center was a little heavy so I just went around him and went and got the sack.”

Whatever Carter did against the Rams, it worked. Heck, it seems like everything he’s done early in his NFL career has worked too.

Carter leads the Eagles with 3 1/2 sacks. He’s the third Eagles player ever to have 3 1/2 sacks in his first five NFL games, joining Corey Simon (4 in 2000) and Reggie White (4 1/2 in 1985).

And it’s not just sacks.

According to ProFootballFocus, Carter has 23 pressures through five games. That ties him with perennial All-Pro Aaron Donald for the NFL lead among defensive tackles. He has more pressures than guys like Javon Hargrave, Jeffery Simmons, Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence and Quinnen Williams.

"We have high hopes for him," head coach Nick Sirianni said. "But he’s got to keep proving it over and over and over again. Because if you want to be considered in the top part of this league as a football player, it’s about consistency and it’s about doing it year in and year out. He’s had a good start. He’s got to continue to put the work in. We know he has the talent, we know he’s a phenomenal talent based off of what you’ve seen so far, based off of what we’ve seen in practice, based off of what you saw in college.

"Now, it’s just his job to continue to grow. .... He’s just gotta continue to be on the rise. I think you’ve seen that he’s gotten a little bit better each week. And so we won’t put him in Canton yet, right? He’s gotta just keep going each and every day and getting better. And it’s about consistency. He’s got the ability to do it, he’s just gotta be consistent with it and that’s by working hard and growing each day."

Carter is now the favorite to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Here are the current odds, via FanDuel:

Jalen Carter: -175
Devon Witherspoon: +350
Brian Branch: +1400
Will Anderson: +1400

The Associated Press has chosen a Defensive Rookie of the Year annually since 1967 and the Eagles have never had a player win the award. That could change in 2023.

"Man, I’m proud of him,” veteran Brandon Graham said. "Because I know coming in, his draft stock dropped a little bit. But shoot, we took a chance and I love it that it’s paying off. At the end of the day, people make mistakes and people got stuff that happens in they life. 

"I’m just happy that Howie (Roseman) did his due diligence and got him in and knew that we would be taking care of him here and he’s happy to be here. That’s all you really want. He’s a great teammate, a lot of fun and I just want him to be him, at the end of the day.”

Who is Jalen Carter? Through five games, he’s a really dominant player. On his way to becoming unstoppable.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/jalen-carter-still-showing-humility-amid-his-early-nfl-dominance/540031/

[PoconoDon]

As a 22 year old rookie, he has such a long way to go, but the cool thing is that his starting point was so very high. If he's 100% in on maximizing his play, he'll be a true game changer for a decade plus. Time will tell.