Top 25 Eagles Ranked: Rookie of the Year Candidate at No. 18

Jalen Carter has the tools to win the NFL's award, but it won't be easy for a number of reasons; still, he is one of the best players on the Philadelphia Eagles' roster

PHILADELPHIA - The last time a Philadelphia Eagles rookie was named the NFL Rookie of the Year was … well, never.

Fletcher Cox couldn’t do it in 2012, though his splendid career, still going at age 32, earned him a spot on the NFL’s Team of the Decade for the 2010s.

Brandon Graham struggled as a rookie in 2010 and got hurt late in that first season, but his long career in Philly has left him as one of the team’s most popular players and continues at age 35.

If there was an annual award for longevity, Cox and Graham, both first-round picks more than a decade ago, would be in the running for sure.

Now along comes another rookie who has a very good chance at making history and becoming the first Eagles player to be the rookie of the year, and he checks in at No. 18 in the top-25 rankings of current Eagles:

DT JALEN CARTER

The process behind the top-25 list started with Eagles beat writer Ed Kracz and John McMullen putting together their own top 25 players independent of each other’s rankings and then assigning point values, with 25 points awarded to the player ranked first on each list, 24 to the player ranked second, and so on, with one point going to the player that was put 25th.

The highest ranking from either reporter breaks any ties in the ballot.

So far, the rankings have shaken out this way:

No. 25 - Kenny Gainwell

No. 24 - Nicholas Morrow

No. 23 - Reed Blankenship

No. 22 - Terrell Edmunds

No. 21 - Jack Elliott

No. 20 – Nakobe Dean

No. 19 – Jordan Davis

The traits are certainly there for Carter to be Defensive Rookie of the Year.

He is a 6-3, 315-pound terror from the University of Georgia, who can beat you with both strength and quickness. He will likely be the starting defensive tackle opposite Cox.

The ninth overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, Carter could end up being the best defensive player in his class, with competition coming from three defensive players picked above him – edge rushers Will Anderson, Jr. and Tyree Wilson and cornerback Devon Witherspoon – as well as others who came after Carter.

Carter was widely perceived as a top-five pick in the draft, but a couple of well-publicized red flags had been attached to him.

So far, more than three weeks into the Eagles’ summer break, Carter has kept himself out of the news.

That’s a good sign, though there is still nearly a month to go before the Eagles report to training camp on July 25.

Still, it won’t be easy for Carter to become the first Eagle to win Rookie of the Year, given the state of the competition, but for two other factors as well.

First, the Eagles typically employ a healthy rotation of players up front to keep them coming at an opponent in fresh waves as the game goes on. That probably won’t change under first-year defensive coordinator Sean Desai, especially because the Eagles have a plethora of talent along the defensive front.

Second, defensive tackles don’t often win the award. The last one to do it at that position was the Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald all the way back in 2014.

Carter’s teammates, six of whom are from Georgia, and longtime Eagles such as Jason Kelce are jazzed to see what Carter can do in his first NFL season and beyond.

“So, as long as he does things right, as long he goes about it the right way, as long as he dedicates himself, as long as he becomes a professional, he has the chance to have a life-changing career in the NFL,” Kelce said.

Rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo, who played with Carter at Geogia said: “Huge hard worker. More of a guy who leads by example. ... definitely a person when there’s 11 guys on the field and nobody had a number, you’d definitely know he’s one of those guys out there on the field, for sure.”

That’s what Phily is counting on and why he has made his way into the top 20 of current Eagles without yet playing an NFL down.

---

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

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

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Philadelphia Eagles? Click Here.

Want even more Philadelphia Eagles news? Check out the SI.com team page here