NEW ORLEANS — The Eagles needed a stop.
They were leading the Rams by six with 1:14 to play in the second round of the NFC playoffs last month. The Rams had trudged their way down a snowy Lincoln Financial Field and faced third-and-2 from the Eagles’ 12. Quarterback Matthew Stafford took a shotgun snap and, within three seconds, was on his back.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter lined up over center Beaux Limmer, stutter-stepped and used a swim move, raising his right arm and throwing him to the side before sprinting straight ahead to sack Stafford and force fourth-and-11. On the next play, he pressured the quarterback on an incomplete pass that clinched the game.
Even more impressive: Carter had sat out only two snaps all game, a rarity for a defensive tackle, before getting his sack.
“The part to me that makes certain players special is, they understand the moment,” defensive line coach Clint Hurtt said Wednesday. “To be able to raise their situational awareness in those critical moments.”
Any Eagles highlight reel from their playoff run will lead with long-distance runs by running back Saquon Barkley. But the team doesn’t make it to the Super Bowl without Carter sacking Stafford in the biggest moment of his impressive second season. Carter was named to the Pro Bowl after recording 4½ regular season sacks and playing a whopping 84% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps. Pro Football Focus grades him as the fourth-best pass-rushing defensive tackle in the NFL.
“I think he’s the best defensive player in the league,” said linebacker Zack Baun, a fellow first-time Pro Bowl player. “That dude’s a monster.”
The Bears had a chance to land a monster of their own. They were on the clock with the No. 9 pick in the 2023 draft when they traded back one spot with the Eagles, who took the Georgia star. General manager Ryan Poles drafted right tackle Darnell Wright with the 10th pick. With the 2024 fourth-round pick they received in the trade, he eventually drafted punter Tory Taylor.
The Bears didn’t want any part of Carter after a precipitous fall in his draft stock. Rated the top player in the draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Carter was involved in a fatal car accident on Jan. 15, 2023, when a car he was alleged to be racing against crashed, killing a Georgia teammate and a football staffer. The next month, he left the NFL Scouting Combine early because he was being charged. He pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing.
Because he left the Combine, scouts took particular interest in his pro day. He showed up out of shape and couldn’t finish all the drills.
The Bears held the No. 1 pick and were in dire need of a defensive tackle after general manager Ryan Poles had tried a year earlier to sign Larry Ogunjobi, only for him to fail his physical. Their trade with the Panthers moved the Bears down to the ninth pick — where Carter was still available. It didn’t matter. After the draft, Poles said he didn’t want to comment specifically about Carter, but said that “character’s always going to be important for us.” The Bears had enough questions about Carter’s to pass on his considerable skillset.
“Everybody makes their decisions,” Carter said this week. “If they felt like it was a smart decision, it was a smart decision. The Eagles picked me up and I’m very thankful for that. you see where we’re at now. …
“I think we all know who made the smart decision.”
Carter remains the subject of civil lawsuits as a result of the crash, but he seems to have settled in on a team that, remarkably, has six Georgia alums on its roster.
“He believes in his heart he was the best player in that draft,” Hurtt said. “It’s hard to discredit that.”
Chiefs center Creed Humphrey compared Carter to Chiefs teammate Chris Jones, who is PFF’s top pass-rushing tackle, saying they were “both a little unorthodox in their movements.” Hurtt, a former Bears assistant, prefers to call Carter unique. The closest comparison to the way he uses his body, he said, was former defensive lineman Michael Bennett, who finished with 69 ½ career sacks.
Before the snap, Carter can read blockers’ stances and assess what they’re about to do. After the snap, he has creative ways of beating blocks.
“When Jalen makes certain decisions in the game, he just doesn’t guess,” Hurtt said. “There’s a feel to it.”
Earlier in the season, Carter used a swim move but came out of the gap he was assigned to cover. Baun tried to correct him and Carter barked back, saying he knew what he was doing.
“As the season went on and I saw what he was able to do, what he was capable of, I’m like, ‘Bro, just do what you do,’” Baun said. “I’m going to be right behind you.”
Eagles guard Trevor Keegan, a Crystal Lake High School alum, is amazed by his fellow second-year player.
“He does so many things as a defensive tackle that you just haven’t seen before. … ” he said. “He’s Allen Iverson in a three technique.”
