It's been a pretty good week for Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, which has not been a sentence read too often from the fan base in 2025.
Earlier in the week, the star defensive tackle was selected to the Pro Bowl for the second straight season. Carter was back at practice after missing the last three games with a shoulder injury and appears to be in line to play in Week 17 against the Buffalo Bills.
Speaking with the media, Carter discussed some of the differences he is seeing in his game while working out in practice. He also mentioned that he isn't quite 100%, but is feeling a lot better than he has in the last few weeks.
“I’m going to play blocks better, play with my hands more,” Carter said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. “The shoulders were kind of restricting it.”
“I can’t get too excited because I’m still working on it every day, still getting strength back,” Carter said. “I had a couple times (in practice) where I struck the O-line to where I could test out the shoulders, and I felt pretty good.”
Carter is about to unleash on the Bills
This season, Carter has racked up 32 tackles, 16 pressures, 11 quarterback hits, six pass deflections, and two sacks in 10 games. Throughout the season, he has missed time for multiple reasons, including getting kicked out of Week 1 for spitting and having a heel injury before the Week 6 matchup against the New York Giants.
Carter has not been the explosive player he was at the beginning of last year, but before the shoulder injury, he has shown he is back to where he was in 2024. He has been disruptive in the passing game, from batting balls down to getting pressure on the quarterback.
Even with his absence, the Eagles have actually done really well with Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, and Byron Young stepping up in his place at defensive tackle. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio even had Brandon Graham step up at defensive tackle, and that move has paid off with three sacks in the last two weeks for the veteran.
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Philly has been blessed with such a great defensive line that it is only going to get better now that Carter is back in the lineup.