Eagles DT Jalen Carter's Shoes Aren't Easy to Walk In Amid Lawsuit

The Philadelphia Eagles rookie was in the news recently for the lawsuit filed against him from a deadly January car crash, but there's another story of his decision to help a walk-on teammate at the University of Georgia.

PHILADELPHIA - You are 21 and one of the best college football players on the planet, then tragedy strikes. You are involved in a deadly car accident, one that you allegedly helped happen by drag racing with friends in another car.

Two people, your friends, in that other car die.

You are in Jalen Carter’s shoes now.

There’s no telling what anyone would do at that age until you are in that situation.

You’d like to think that you would stop and help render aid in whatever way possible. It’s the absolute right thing to do.

Carter, the Philadelphia Eagles' first of two first-round draft picks in April, didn’t do that, not according to a lawsuit filed against him that alleges he fled, egged on by a teammate at the University of Georgia to get away from the scene. He likely panicked and thought being there would jeopardize his future.

ESPN broke the lawsuit story first.

Again, it’s easy to say what you would do in that situation. Until you are in that situation.

Me? I would like to think I would stop and deliver whatever aid I could, but my future, and the future of whoever is reading this probably didn’t portend a fully guaranteed, $21 million, four-year deal with a $12.8M signing bonus, which Carter agreed to and became the first first-round pick signed when he did so back on May 4.

Carter’s friend, Georgia offensive lineman Warren McLendon was, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this week by crash survivor Victoria Bowles against Carter and the Georgia Athletic Association, telling Carter, “Yo ... hey, JC...you might want to go ahead and go get the f--- on yo....'"

So, Carter fled.

Tough situation.

Equally tough for Bowles. The lawsuit, lists Bowles with "three lumbar fractures, five fractured vertebrae, 10 broken ribs, broken clavicle, fractured and cracked teeth, kidney and liver lacerations, punctured and collapsed lung and abdominal bleeding" as her injuries.

Bowles' attorneys noted she suffered "likely permanent disability" and has incurred more than $170,000 in medical expenses.

It’s going to be a while before Carter can outrace his past, if he ever does.

The bottom line is he has to learn from it and make sure nothing in the present develops that will be equally difficult, or if, heaven forbid, more so challenging to outrun.

So far, with Eagles training camp less than two weeks away, Carter has behaved himself, as far as anybody knows.

Maturity questions, which surrounded him leading up to the draft and may have caused him to slip a few spots to No. 9 and into the Eagles’ laps, will hound him until he can prove otherwise.

He just turned 22 on April 4, not quite three months after the Jan. 15 accident.

Here’s another story about Carter, one that perhaps flew under the radar in February, the draft still two months away.

Given time to think, and not panic, he made the right decision.

Written by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, and retold by Outkick.com's Trey Wallace, the story goes that Carter stepped up for a walk-on teammate at Georgia, Weston Wallace, and used his own NIL money and some of his scholarship money to make sure Wallace could eat with the rest of the team.

Carter bought lunch for Wallace every day, making sure, Feldman wrote, that his teammate felt the appreciation of his hard work.

“Jalen heard about that,” Wallace told Feldman. “I’m the only walk-on in the defensive line room and he goes ‘I’m not gonna let that happen.’ So he used his scholarship money to pay for me to get lunch every single day.”

Carter also told Feldman that he wanted to take care of one of his brothers since he was blessed with the opportunity.

Sounds like Carter isn’t the type to brag or look for anything in return. The only reason it was discovered, according to Feldman, was that defensive line coach Tray Scott found out because the team nutritionist told him.

So, put yourself in Carter’s shoes and ask yourself, what would you have done in both situations?

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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