The Philadelphia Eagles traded up in the 2023 NFL Draft to select defensive tackle Jalen Carter with the ninth overall pick, which worked out pretty well for them.
Carter has been a Pro Bowl selection in each of the last two seasons, as he is about to enter his fourth year in the NFL, so that selection was a great one for Philly. CBS Sports writer Ryan Wilson redrafted the 2023 NFL Draft, with Carter going eighth overall to the Atlanta Falcons, leaving the Eagles to take current Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft.
"Here's what I wrote in my notes on Kraft during the 2023 pre-draft process: 'High-end athlete, long frame, long strider who eats up cushion and is a matchup problem both inline and from the slot. Surprisingly good inline blocker who has good hands, a huge catch radius and YAC ability. Battled injuries in 2022. How much do injuries and level of competition affect the evaluation? Still, get Travis Kelce-at-Cincy vibes.' Hey, not bad! And before the knee injury last season, Kraft was quickly becoming one of the best young tight ends in the league."
Eagles fans should be happy that didn't happen
Kraft is a great tight end and would have been a great weapon in the Eagles' offense as the eventual replacement for Dallas Goedert. There's no universe where Kraft makes the exact same kind of impact that Carter has made on the Eagles over the last three years.
Carter can literally do it all, from stopping the run to rushing the quarterback. Over the years, he has gotten better at batting the ball down at the line of scrimmage.
There is a maturity aspect to Carter that needs to be worked on after his off-the-field issues before entering the NFL, and his spitting incident with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott last season. The injury concerns are there too after Carter dealt with a heel injury and was healing from his shoulder injury in 2025, which cost him six games.
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Philly knows how lucky they were that no one in the top eight decided to take Carter and instead chose the safer picks. Carter has ended up being a top-three defensive tackle in the NFL, and after the Eagles picked up his fifth-year option, he is about to reset the market on interior defensive linemen contracts.
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