Jalen Carter is Getting Better As They Get Deeper In Training Camp

The hype for Jalen Carter has been real in Philadelphia every since the Eagles drafted him. You could argue it was starting to ramp up even before the draft as it started to look like the Eagles could actually land him. But now with eagles training camp a few weeks underway, Eagles fans are getting a taste of that for the first time. Right away in camp we were hearing about the reps he was winning and how good he looked. And in the first Pre-Season game, we saw him toss the opposing offensive guard aside to generate a pass rush.  But the scary thing is, he may be getting even better as camp goes on. At least that is what Tim McManus told us when he joined The Best Show Ever earlier today.

The league may regret letting Jalen Carter to fall to the Eagles very soon. Yes it is just practice/ pre-season. But this is nothing new. Its the same things people were saying about him at Georgia. It is why he was at one point a guy people said could be the 1st overall pick. And they let him fall to pick 9. The Falcons took a RB instead of him. That may look like a very big mistake soon.

The Eagles lost a double digit sack guy in Javon Hargrave. Expecting Carter to literally replace that is a big ask. Especially considering only 36 rookies in NFL history have reached double digit sacks, and most of them are edge rushers. But that is the level we are talking about with Jalen Carter. It is one thing to dominate a backup G for the Ravens. But today he put Joel Bitonio, a 5 time All-Pro, on his back. Yes it was just practice, but that is not easy to do regardless.

There are still a few weeks before we get to see him in real action. But he given us no reason so far to expect anything but more of the same once the sacks actually start to count.

One week of Pre-Season is in the books. We barely saw any starters in game 1 vs the Ravens at all. And that is a trend Eagles fans should probably get used to. We would be lucky to see one series of Jalen Hurts and the first-team offense all together before they head to Foxborough in week 1 of the regular season. And the same goes for the defensive side of the ball, where none of the veterans got onto the field at all. 

But that does not mean there is nothing to take away from Saturday’s Pre-Season game. Because there are some important guys still competing for jobs. Who will be the lead back? Which two guys will be the starting safeties? Is Arryn Siposs's job on the line? Is there even a competition at RG like we all assumed? Even if we don't see the big names, there is still a reason to pay attention to both who is playing, and how they play. We also got our first glimpse at rookies like Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Sydney Brown, Tyler Steen, and Kelee Ringo.

Some guys came out and made a very strong first case to win a roster spot, or a larger role on the team. Others failed to stand out or even struggled. And there is also something to learn from the names who joined the starters on the bench.

So whose stock with the Eagles is on the rise? Who perhaps hurt their chances to make the team? And who did the Eagles suggest maybe already won the job by not playing them at all?  

Here are some of the players whose Eagles stock rose or fell the most after the first pre-season game: 

Jalen Carter needed just 1 snap to make his presence felt. He tossed Ben Cleveland aside, to pressure the QB. It probably should have been intentional grounding. But the result doesn't matter. what matters is how good Carter looked. Yes, it was vs a backup OG. But this is exactly what elite players, like we think Carter can be, do when they line up against backups. They make them look silly. Carter has a chance to be very special. We got a glimpse of that in game 1 and continued to see it in Joint Practice so far this week.  

Making the roster will be an uphill battle for Ngata and all the WRs on the bubble. At most there is one spot, and even that is not guaranteed. So guys like Ngata need to impress every opportunity they get. And while he has done that in practice, it was not the case in the game. He committed a penalty taking a big play of his own off the board. Beyond that, he had just 1 catch for 4 yards. Not enough if he is hoping to convince the Eagles to keep him as a 6th WR.  

There is clearly a lot of work Tanner has to do. But just seeing him on the field, you can see the talent was there. Some of the throws he made were at a pro level. Zipping balls into tight windows, and putting good touch when it was needed. Yes, there were some overthrows. But if the Eagles keep a 3rd QB, it is going to be Tanner. 

On the other hand, it is hard to look worse than Ian Book did. He had more sacks than he had completions. And one of those sacks was for 21 yards because he made the dumb mistake of trying to outrun a sack backwards. It feels like he has already lost the 3rd QB job. He has two more chances to try and win it back. But the gulf between him and Mckee is huge after game 1.  

Reed Blankenship did not play. He was not banged up. The Eagles just sat him alongside all of the starters. That tells you a ton about what they think about him. It tells you that he has one of those two starter spots at Safety locked up. Terrell Edmunds, Sydney Brown, K’Von Wallace, and Justin Evans all had to go out there and still play. Reed got to sit next to Jalen Hurts and Jason Kelce on the bench. A 2nd-year UDFA, and he has that type of job security. That may be the biggest win of the night.  

Plus apparently, he has been showing off in Joint Practice vs the Browns.

Like Reed Blankenship, Cam Jurgens did not play. And that is the best thing for him. If it was a real battle at RG, he would be playing. Instead, he sat on the bench. The RG battle is over. It may have never existed, to begin with. They have the utmost trust in Cam Jurgens as the starting RG for the Eagles. Tyler Steen played really well when on the field as well. But he will have to settle for being a backup this season, even if he is a very good backup.

Mariota’s job as the primary backup is likely not in any danger. As good as McKee looked, I doubt it is to the point they would trust him backing up Hurts. That said, he didn’t do himself any favors vs the Ravens. He was way better than Book, but that is not saying much. Mariota made some big plays with his legs, but there were too many bad throws to be comfortable with what he showed us.   

I don’t know if there is a job for Eli Ricks to win. Cornerback is already so deep. Darius Slay, James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, Kelee Ringo, and Josh Jobe feel like locks at this point. Zech McPhearson is a near lock. So if any of these other guys, like Greedy Williams, Mario Goodrich, or Eli Ricks want a job, they need to play well enough to convince them to keep 7 Corners. But getting a pick 6, a pass deflection, and playing tight coverage like Ricks did all night is a good first step to making the argument for a 7th corner.  

Like at corner, it will be tough for any RB outside the top 4 to crack the roster. And Sermon didn’t make a good case for that in game 1. He did not make a huge impact in the return game and averaged under 3 yards per carry. That is not the production of a guy so good you need to keep 5 running backs. I know they like Sermon. They were giving him a chance to return kicks because they want to find a role for him. When asked to stay in and block he held up well. Plus he did get into the endzone once. There are reasons to like him as an RB. But the overall performance was not enough to make the case as a 5th RB yet. 

Another guy who probably won't have a spot. But unlike Ngata, he did at least make a good case for it in the game. Cleveland early in the game felt like he was making every play, along with Greg Ward. The 3-year Vet had 5 catches for 68 yards, including some highlight reel caliber catches. If he continues to play like that, he maybe could convince them to keep a 6th WR. But it is an uphill battle, and even after Saturday night, he is probably not at the front of the pack yet to win that job if it exists. But it was a good first step for him.

The Eagles did not do a ton of punting. Siposs got just 2 chances, and neither of them went all that well. The first one was a prime chance to pin them behind the 10-yard line. He punted it just 33 yards from the 44 to the 11. That is the type of spot where a good punter could have had the other team lining up in their own end zone. I suppose it at least was not a touchback. The next chance came from the 30, giving him a chance to show off his leg, and it went just 42 yards. Siposs failed to show both finesse and power. 

Zentner on the other hand got just one chance. He pinned the Ravens at the 6-yard line. A good solid punt. It is hard to call it a win for him since it was just one punt. But he stood out in contrast to Siposs who struggled on both punts.  

We already knew Swift was good, so it is not a big surprise that he was one of the standouts in the first game. But it was nice to see him doing it wearing an Eagles jersey. He broke off a 22-yard run, and then we never saw him again. That was all he needed to show. The only thing we didn’t see was him getting involved in the passing game. But we might not see much more of Swift at all until the regular season now.  

It was nothing we didn’t already know, but Brown was very active once he got onto the field. He led the Eagles with 9 tackles. It felt like he was involved in every play. He may not start this season, but there should be a role for a guy like Brown who is so willing to hit.