PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Emergency Pod: Eagles Make Jalen Carter NFL's HIGHEST-PAID DT

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Howie Roseman loves a deadline, as Jalen Carter joins Jordan Davis as a long-term locked-up DT for the Eagles after his big-money extension outpaces Jeffery Simmons and makes the former Georgia Bulldog the NFL's highest=paid defensive tackle. Good start to Eagles training camp! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to an emergency edition of the PHY Eagles podcast, Bo Wolf and E.J. Smith. Shortly, we will be joined by Fran Duffy. We are live from the Xfinity Lounge. We are presented by Xfinity. We are here to tell you about the new contract for Jalen Carter, E.J., that makes him the highest paid defensive tackle in NFL history. That's right. It's a four-year deal worth up to 160. million. The base value is

152 million and the guaranteed money. That's the big number to me. $106 million guaranteed, which is the highest guarantee of any defensive tackle in the NFL. It resets Jeffrey Simmons signing for $100 million two weeks ago. So a significant deal

for Jalen Carter, one that took a little bit longer than we typically are used to seeing the Eagles. When they extend players, they're usually quick to do it. I think this deal was a little bit more complicated, but ultimately I think this is a big win for Jalen Carter and I think it's a big win for eagles fans I mean howie Roseman waiting for a deadline camp starts tomorrow is the today is report day

tomorrow's the first day of practice he's working on deadline him and he's swear he me nothing like a deadline to get things moving right I think we all know that yeah he's procrastinating that's all he did he took a summer vacation said oh camp starts tomorrow let's finally get this done yeah I think uh you know this is a bigger picture thing we can talk about later but there's a reason that the Eagles don't have players hold out very often. It's because they're usually very efficient and effective getting their business done. I don't think that the Eagles wanted to be in the business

of Jalen Carter holding out or holding in. I don't think Jalen Carter and his representation probably would have welcomed that as much. I said on yesterday's show, that's not necessarily a language that the Eagles speak, you know, these types of leverage and negotiation games. So I think both sides obviously came back to the table and they were quick to get a deal done

after months of trying to figure this out. Fran has some information on the specific layabout of the money and all that stuff and how it compares to other positions and other defensive tackles. But just on Jalen Carter, do you think the Eagles were at all hesitant about committing long-term to a player like him? I think, I don't think, you know, my understanding is that the Eagles were hesitant to, I wouldn't say commit long-term to him, but commit significant guaranteed money long-term to which is what they ultimately did.

And I think that that was going to be the hang up. You know, if you look at Jalen Carter compared to Jeffrey Simmons, Jalen Carter is a younger player, I think his ceiling is as high as any defensive tackle, really any pass rusher in the NFL, maybe outside of Miles Garrett. So I think you're talking about a player that was going to command, you know, market resetting money. And I think it took a while for the Eagles to figure out what the framework of that deal

was going to look like. I think that's fair to say. I think that's why this took as long as it did. If you look at most of the players the Eagles extend, who they drafted homegrown talent, those deals get done in March and in April, I think that this one was more complicated. I think it's fair to say, but again, I ultimately think if you're an Eagles fan, like you're not so worried about the guaranteed money and, you know, what the figures will look like. Jalen Carter is a difference-making player.

He is a world-tilting, field-tifting player. He can turn a game on its head. And for that reason, you wanted him to be here long-term, and you wanted them to make sure that there was nothing lingering in this season that might affect his ability to turn games on their head. Yeah, let's bring in Fran Duffy now on the Xfinity Mobile call-in line. The great Fran Duffy. Now, we've got a regular show coming up your way at 2 o'clock.

We'll talk a little bit more about the position battles to come in camp, but let's obviously zero in on Jalen Carter here. Your initial reaction, Mr. Duffy, to the big contract. Yeah, I mean, we know what the upside is with Jalen Carter and how he can be that game-tilting type of presence for defense. I mean, this contract is the richest amongst defensive tackles, but it's the sixth highest defensive player contract in the NFL right now. You're behind Miles Garrett and you're behind, you know, Micah Parsons, T.J. Watt, Danelle Hunter, right?

You got those premier A grade pass rushers. And then you got Jalen Carter. And I think when you're looking at it, that's the type of player. That's the ceiling that we have come to expect. Obviously, honestly, to me, the big one that made it cloudy was the issue, the medical issue. last year. And I feel like that obviously affected the nature of his play. It was a little bit more volatile than maybe you would have liked to see last year. But when you're playing with two hurt shoulders, as he did for a good chunk of the season, that's going to affect that. And so

knowing that he's likely to be healthy here going into this season, the Eagles are paying for what they expect to get from Jalen Carter moving forward. A quick note on that, just asking around. I was curious if like the conditioning test played a factor into this at all. You know, like the players obviously reported today, it's my understanding that they haven't done the condition. test yet. So it's not like Jalen Carter passes the conditioning test and they say, all right, walk upstairs and sign your new deal. But I do think there's some like palpable enthusiasm about the way that he looks physically after the long layoff and they with them returning today. As you mentioned, friend, three sacks last season in only 11 games. But the year before, you know,

he's playing a ton of snaps and he did when he was healthy last year, play a ton of snaps. You are, the Eagles are in a situation where they are able to pay for future production, at least what they think is going to be future production because Jalen Carter is only 25 years old. Yeah, and that's the, you're not paying for the past performance. You're paying for what you expect to come from a player like this. And I think when you're looking at Jalen Carter, there is reason to believe that he is going to be that that level of consistently dominant force in the interior. I had the conversation last week with Greg Kosell, and we were talking about just like

the nature of defense in today's NFL. And he brought up the fact that, you know, if you look at Vic Fenner, is kind of like, all right, that scheme, that split safety scheme and the nature that most teams are kind of building within that structure, defensive tackle is extremely important. It's not necessarily just because of what they can do getting after the quarterback, but you need to have a net positive in the run game. It can't just be, hey, because if you're going to play with a light box, and if you're going to play with five or six guys up there and they've got more blockers than you've got defenders, well, then that means that your guys up front need to be

able to account for just more than themselves. They've got to be able to defeat the first block, defeat the second block, impact ball carriers. And that's what Jalen Carter does at such a high level. And then that allows you to then become the terror on those passing downs. And I think Jaylon Carter's ability to be dominant in both phases is what makes him have such this high of a ceiling here in the NFL. Now, the ramifications of this in terms of like the big picture roster building for the Eagles are obviously several fold. Just at defensive tackle, I think we can all say It's pretty likely now that Morrow Ojimo will be a free agent this off season. He is playing on a contract year.

Remember, we talked about when the A.J. Brown trade happened that part of the advantage to the Eagles for doing it now is to get out of some of the cash considerations that they had moving forward. And so clearing the cash that was going to be owed to A.J. Brown allows them to sign these guys, presumably sign Quinnian Mitchell and Cooper DeGine next offseason. I think they could have found a way to do that anyway, even with AJ Brown. Howie Roseman is never going to be in the business of getting rid of blue chip players. But you just think about what is coming for this team now is this is going to go from being a team where most of the money is spent on offense. Yeah.

Pretty soon, most of the money is going to be spent on, you know, keeping this defensive core. And they're going to have to start hitting draft picks on offense. Yeah. And honestly, as we get into next off season, that's going to be a big discussion because when you have, Ojamo hitting free agency, you know, your Rieck Wollin hitting free agency, you know, you have Nolan Smith and Jaylux Hunt entering contract years. Like there's going to be the allure from a lot of people

to kind of paint the Eagles as draft, you know, taking another high defensive player early in the draft, I think they still have to add on the offensive side of the football, you know, whether it's going to be offensive line or, you know, another one of these positions. But I agree with you that you kind of have to balance the books that way because you're going to be putting so much in that defense when you look at like A plus contract.

You know, honestly, like, Quinyon Mitchell's deal is not going to be that far off. Tread McDuffey is at $31 million a year. So if you think that Quinyon could reset the corner market, which, you know, I would imagine that's in the range of outcomes. He's going to be getting close to where Jila Carter is by this time next year. So, yeah, these are things that the Eagles will have to juggle here in the coming years. Yeah, I don't want to speak out of turn, but I feel like Quinyon and Cooper, their extensions are eventualities. Like, I know that that is a question that a lot of people are asking in the chat. I know that's a question that will be discussed

is like, does this affect the ability for them to keep Quinnine and Cooper? I don't look at it like that. I actually look at it like what you guys are saying here where it's like they're going to have to draft really well on offense because they are going to have so many guys on that defensive side of the ball. Quinnine and Cooper included in that who are going to be on huge contracts. I wouldn't worry too much about this deal affecting

the long-term outlook for the secondary. I would look at it more like they're going to have to have a low-cost offense. Your team's starting lineup may change, E.J. But the price of your internet will not. Check out the five-year price guarantee from our friends at Xfinity who are sponsoring this emergency pod. Fran, in terms of the timing of this and how I'm making sure that this gets done before camp, you can sort of understand why you wouldn't want to enter a season like this

with consternation in the locker room. Part of the reason that you know you may wonder what kind of carve-outs are in this deal for the Eagles with Jalen Carter are the same reasons why you would probably not want him to be entering camp as an agitated player, knowing that he plays way more snaps than Jordan Davis, but you paid Jordan Davis, you got to pay me too. Now he comes in, he's been paid, and I think the Eagles are expecting kind of a monster season for him. That's why he's getting paid this money. Yeah, I mean, you would expect that he's going to have that type of force multiplier season, really? He's going to be the guy that is creating big plays, but then also allowing

others to create the big plays because of the attention that he draws. So yeah, I would imagine that the expectations are sky high for him. As far as like the timing of it, you know, I think that a lot of times when you some of these negotiations might happen like remotely over the course of the summer. You mentioned you theorized a couple weeks ago. Maybe like room service shows up at how he's a hotel. And you know, maybe that's Drew Rosenhouse sending him a note. A lot of this stuff can happen. And then I say, hey, you know what? When Jalen comes in, when Jalen reports and come in, put the name on the dotted line and then we'll hammer this thing out. So I'm sure that it was a matter of like, all right, let's get Jalen Carter into the building. Final details are done and let's get rolling here.

Go ahead. I'm not going to take, this isn't a victory lap. I want to make that clear from the outset, but I did get a tip actually recently that Drew Rosenhouse flew into Philadelphia. And that could have meant anything, which is why I'm not, I'm not taking a victory lap on this because like I'm thinking that could be Jalen signing an extension. It could be Jalen's holding out, holding in. Drew Rosenhaus wants to parade around the sideline and make sure that he's seen. But it is funny, you know, thinking about the timing of it. Like, clearly

he was in town to sign this extension. You should have followed him. Followed him on the flying. Yeah. I don't think I can fly for that long. You know, I'm kind of working my endurance. Okay. All right. Any final thoughts from you, Fran, before we close this emergency pod

and tell you to join us for the 2 o'clock, regular P.H.I. Eagle Show. No, it's exciting. exciting way to start training camp. Obviously, it removes like a very large, like, monkey off the organization's back going in because this would have been a big storyline is like the state, the mental state of Jalen Carter. Is he holding in, holding now? What's the deal?

You kind of take that off the table now. And it's all positive vibes on the defensive side of the ball. E.J. I will let you close this out with your final thoughts. What do you make of Jalen Carter becoming the highest paid defensive tackle in NFL history? It's obviously a significant deal, but I think this is a win for the Eagles and Eagles fans. Jalen Carter is the type of player that you make this type of move for. And I don't think that this affects the long-term outlook for the defense. I think you're expecting Quineon Mitchell, Cooper to Gene and Jalen Carter

to be the building blocks for your future and for your future defense in moving forward. From there, I think it's just going to be about trying to figure out how you balance that on the offensive side. All right. Here you go. Thank you to Xfinity for presenting this emergency pod. We will join you at 2 o'clock for the regular PHAY Eagles show, breaking down some of the training camp battles to come as camp begins on Wednesday. But for now, it is Jalen Carter's Day. Thank you, Fran Duffy. Thank you, Lindsay. Thanks to everybody in the comments.

Let us know what you think about the deal. Are you happy to have Jalen Carter locked up as a Philadelphia Eagle for the foreseeable future? Thanks for watching everybody. And as always, we love you.