SÃO PAULO -- Jalen Carter knows the situation.
The first-round pick had a good (albeit uneven) rookie season but things are different entering Year 2. On a defense that no longer has Haason Reddick and Fletcher Cox, Carter is the centerpiece.
And he’s OK with that.
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“I got a lot on my shoulders,” Carter said on Tuesday afternoon, “and I’m ready to step up to the plate and show what I can do.”
This summer, the Eagles’ longest-tenured player Brandon Graham said the defense will go as far as Carter and Jordan Davis take them. And that’s partially true. The Georgia duo in the middle of the Eagles’ defensive line has a big responsibility.
But Carter is unmistakably the centerpiece. He was the No. 9 overall pick last season and flashed his All-Pro potential as a rookie. There’s no reason he can’t become one of the best defensive players in the NFL in Year 2.
He also doesn’t mind any of pressure that comes with it.
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“Oh yeah, I like that (pressure),” Carter said. “I ain’t got no problem with it. It’s football. It’s my job. There’s going to be pressure some weeks and some weeks there’s not. It’s on and off.”
For Carter, it’s going to be on quite a bit.
When opposing offensive lines try to figure out the way to slow down the Eagles’ pass rush, they’re most likely going to circle No. 98. Defensive tackles have the quickest route to the quarterback and Carter has proven his ability to get home.
And without the six-time Pro Bowler Cox on the line, you can bet that Carter is going to get way more attention this season.
“I’ve been having that since I was little,” Carter said. “I had it at Georgia after Jordan Davis and Travon Walker and them guys left. I feel like it’s about to come up now. It’s just something I have to work on, second-effort rush. Just getting to the quarterback and finishing.”
Carter will have to prepare for that extra attention this season. As he goes through film study during the week, he’ll be looking for some intel about how other teams deal with top-tier interior rushers. He wants to know how strong or weak the center is when protection slides.
Any little thing can be an advantage.
As a rookie, Carter played in 16 games and has a respectable stat line: 6 sacks, 9 QB hits, 8 TFLs and 2 FFs.
But he also slowed down as the year went on.
“I didn’t feel like I hit a wall,” Carter said. “There’s a lot of excuses people say about what happened last year. I ain’t got no excuses. What happened, happened. I’m on to this year.”
Under old school defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Carter is expected to play a lot more in Year 2. For reference, former Dolphins star DT Christian Wilkins played 81% of the defensive snaps last year under Fangio.
As Carter prepared to play more under Fangio, he slimmed down a bit this offseason. There are advantages and disadvantages to that but he’s hoping it’ll help him through the rigors of a 17-plus-game season.
In a defensive line room that’s extremely young, there’s not an obvious leader. That room has a different feel this year because of it. While Carter said most of the players look toward Davis, there’s no question who needs to be the star of that unit.
Pro Bowl, All-Pro, Defensive Player of the Year. There’s not really a ceiling for a player as talented as Carter.
When asked if he has any personal goals for his second season, Carter said he doesn’t yet but he’s thinking of a few. He just didn’t want to divulge what they might be.
“I’d like to keep that to myself right now. Right now,” Carter said. “I’ll let y’all know later.”
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