RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesPHILADELPHIA − In life, every action has a reaction. And so it is in the high-stakes world of NFL finances, something the Eagles fully understand.
Heck, they practically wrote the book on how to keep core star players together. Jalen Carter was just the latest example. The Eagles officially signed Carter to a four-year contract extension worth as much as $152 million on July 29. Carter's average annual value of $38 million makes his the largest contract for a defensive tackle in NFL history. At least for now.
Carter is at the top of the DT pay scale despite being just 25 years old, entering his fourth season, and coming off a season in which injuries to both shoulders limited him to 11 games and 3 sacks.
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So yes, the contract is a gamble, especially because it really doesn't start until 2028 and lasts through the 2031 season.
"Like anyone, when you're 25 years old, you're still growing as a person and as a player," Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said.
Then he added something linebacker Zack Baun said to him when Baun signed his contract two years ago: "You don't pay me for what I did. You're paying me for what I'm going to do.
"That's why we do these deals. We don't do anything based on retroactive performance. We're doing things based on future performance."
That wasn't the only gamble the Carter signing represented. The Eagles are also gambling because they know the Carter signing will likely prevent them from re-signing another potential star defensive tackle who's eligible for free agency after this season in Moro Ojomo.
Really, it was an easy choice. Carter was a first-round pick in 2023 and is already considered a generational defensive tackle. So much so that Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson, another generational player, said he told Carter this during his rookie season:
"I told him that this is where he was headed," Johnson said about a record-setting contract. "He had the potential to be a great, dominating player in this league ... I think he’s only scratching the surface of what he’s going to become."
But Ojomo, taken in the same draft as Carter − in the seventh-round and 240 picks later − is going to price himself out of returning to the Eagles next season.
Again, Ojomo is not the player Carter is. But the Eagles are paying two of their three starting defensive tackles in Carter and Jordan Davis, signed in March to a three-year extension worth as much as $78 million.
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That's $230 million worth of contracts. There aren't many scenarios where the Eagles can also give Ojomo another $60 million or so in over three or four years.
Not when the Eagles have to pay cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean when they become eligible for extensions after this season. In addition, the Eagles also have second contract decisions coming up on edge rushers Nolan Smith, also a first-round pick in 2023 (No. 30 overall), and Jalyx Hunt, both of whom can become free agents after 2027. The Eagles picked up Smith's fifth-year option for 2027, guaranteeing him $13.8 million.
The NFL has a salary cap, and the Eagles can't keep everyone.
After the Super Bowl season of 2024, the Eagles had to let defensive tackle Milton Williams leave in free agency. He signed a four-year deal worth as much as $104 million with the New England Patriots. Williams was one of five defensive starters who left after that season.
Last season, the Eagles couldn't match the Carolina Panthers' offer of four years, $120 million for edge rusher Jaelan Phillips. He, linebacker Nakobe Dean and safety Reed Blankenship all left in free agency.
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Ojomo, who turns 25 in August, will be in high demand when he hits free agency next spring. Ojomo had 6 sacks last season, second on the team and just one-half sack less than Hunt.
"Everybody knows the caliber player Mo is," Davis said. "He’s really been making waves. I believe last season was his calling card, and he put a lot of people on notice that weren’t really paying attention to him before. But Mo is a leader. He’s a natural, gifted leader.
"When he takes control and puts his mind to something, he’s super technical, super competitive, and I love that about Mo."
Carter is on a different level.
That's why Roseman called Carter's signing "unique," saying that usually those extensions are done in the spring. But both sides wanted to wait after Tennessee gave DT Jeffery Simmons a four-year deal worth as much as $140 million. The Eagles, perhaps to make sure that Carter's shoulders were fully healed. Carter, perhaps to weigh how much more he could get in the future.
"This was a unique situation," Roseman said. "By the same token, getting this done before camp was important for all of us."
That was especially true for Carter.
Sure, Carter could have waited it out until free agency after the 2027 season (the Eagles picked up his fifth-year option for $27 million). With two more strong seasons, Carter could have easily surpassed what he got now. That's why the Eagles like doing the extensions as soon as the players are eligible, and two years before free agency, thus saving money in the future.
That happened with quarterback Jalen Hurts, who signed a five-year extension worth as much as $255 million in the summer of 2023. At the time, it was a record contract. Now, it ranks 10th.
One day, perhaps later this summer, Carter's contract will be surpassed by another defensive tackle. Carter seemed fine with that when asked if it was important for him to be the highest paid.
"It was important for me to stay here with the guys that I know and ...
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