On Thursday night, the rich just got richer. The NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles moved up from the 10th to the ninth spot after trading this year’s pick and a 2024 fourth-round selection with the Bears, and once they moved up, they grabbed former Georgia DT Jalen Carter.
Carter(6-5, 314 pounds), who recently pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing in connection with a fatal crash in January, is one of the most talented players in this draft, but there were a lot of questions surrounding him after the accident, which is probably one of the reasons he dropped to nine.
After being selected by Philly, the 22-year-old was emotional, which he discussed.
“My mind was changing every second,” Carter said during a video conference call on Thursday. “I was just thinking about how my family felt. I’ve been grinding all my life for this moment right now, and just to see the smile on their faces and the tears coming out of their eyes, it made me tear up.”
The All-American will be reunited with his former college teammates, Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean, in Philly, and Carter says he has a close relationship with those players.
“The relationship is very close,” he said. “I actually talked to [Eagles DT] Jordan Davis. I think it was yesterday. [Eagles LB] Nakobe [Dean], we’ve been texting a little bit. I know they’re probably texting my phone now, so when I get my phone, they’re probably going to have a little message for me, or we might have a little FaceTime call real quick and just talk about what we’re about to do.”
According to Carter, the Eagles are getting the best player in the draft.
“My general expectations were whoever drafts me is going to get the best player in the draft,” Carter said. “I just had high hopes for Philly because I had a good visit with them, and I felt like it was a good team to go to and play for.”
Eagles Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman discussed the amount of research the team did before drafting Carter.
“I’ve talked about [Senior Advisor to the General Manager/Chief Security Officer] Dom [DiSandro] many, many times about the work that he does, which is the best in the National Football League, and we understand that all these players, they need to be developed,” Roseman said. “They’re coming into the league at a very young age. They’re not finished products. I think all of us, when we were 21 and 22, hopefully, have grown a lot from that time, and you just really want to get to know the person and what’s in their heart. I think when we got to know Jalen, we just felt like here’s a kid that he does love football. Obviously, he’s a winner. He won in high school; he won in college.
“We feel like we have really good people in this building. We have really good support staff. We have really good players who are good people. We have really good coaches. We felt like it was a good fit for us.”
There is a risk in selecting Carter, but he’s talented, young, and young people make mistakes. Let’s hope he continues to grow as a player and a person.
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