Eagles Jalen Carter Reveals Lofty Goal: 'I Want to Be Defensive Rookie of The Year!'

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, drafted ninth overall after a little bit of a slide, has had an impressive start at training camp. And now he's saying he wants much, much more.

PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Carter’s goals change daily as he adjusts to his first professional football camp. There is one that remains the same, and that’s not changing.

“I want to be Defensive Rookie of the Year,” he said following the third day of training camp on Friday.

The Philadelphia Eagles have never had one of those before, but the rookie defensive tackle appears to have all the skills in place necessary to become the first in franchise history.

Picked ninth overall last spring, has opened some eyes in his first two practices open to reporters. First, he is in shape.

Second, he has shown his strength with bull rushes and speed to loop around the edge or slip between blockers on the offensive line. During Friday’s practice, two plays stood out.

One came when he used his strength and leverage to take on a double team to disrupt a play. He actually pushed the pair of blockers into each other but before he could move around the pileup, quarterback Marcus Mariota was already on the move scrambling.

The other came when the Eagles lines up in the red zone and head coach Nick Sirianni said it was third-and-goal from the 8. Mariota took the snap, but Carter quickly gained leverage to the left of the blocker, forcing Mariota to run right.

It may have been the wrong decision because there was no receiver in the vicinity so Mariota took off running only to be chased down and pushed out of bounds by Tarron Jackson well short of the end zone.

Mariota had no choice but to roll to his right because had he gone the other way, Carter was ready to swallow him up.

“I feel like I did good, and you know it's still a lot of improvement to do, and I'm just getting better every day,” said Carter. “It's different, you know? Guys are very strong. Technique is very different. 

"What I noticed about our O-line is they might not throw their hands a lot and they might use a little finesse with their little stance and all that. It's harder to read run and pass. I just gotta learn.”

Most of Carter’s reps have come with the second and third teams, but starting left tackle Jordan Mailata has gone against him a couple of times, though he hasn’t encountered Nolan Smith, yet, the Eagles’ other first-round pick who has been impressive early on as well.

“Jalen Carter is very fast,” said Mailata. “The intensity right now and the speed of the game is really fast. I’ve had a couple plays with Jalen and just trying to cut him off from the backside and he’s really fast, but I’m really fast, too. He’s really good.”

Good enough to perhaps become the first DROY in team history.

“I'm very powerful in our defense, the D-line, and coach Rock (defensive line coach Tracy Rocker), he wants us to fire off the ball and that's something I like to do,” said Carter. “I'm not really expecting anything (snap-wise). When they tell me (to go in), I'm just trying to make a big impact to the game, and just do my best.”

And that "best'' could in theory result in Jalen Carter capturing a major individual prize.

Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.

Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.

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