Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter sums up ‘trash’ 2026 season
Carter, who is not used to losing given his success with the Eagles and the Georgia Bulldogs, says he has not played to "my expectations."
Jalen Carter summed up his 2026 season with just one word on Wednesday:
Trash.
“Y’all ask me this every year and I say trash,” Carter said. “I think you asked for this last year and the year before and I gave you the same answer: Trash. Not to my expectations and, well, I guess not to what the fans want. Don’t really matter what they want.”
The season certainly hasn’t been up to his standards. Carter, a 2024 All-Pro defensive tackle, has eight solo tackles, three sacks, and five tackles for loss through seven games this season. A bulk of these metrics came in the Eagles’ Week 5 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London — during which Carter logged three TFLs, 1½ sacks, and three solo tackles.
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That production is not up to the standard of the massive contract extension he signed this offseason — a deal worth up to $160 million, which made him the highest-paid defensive tackle in the league.
Carter hit a new low on Monday, when he logged zero solo tackles and zero QB pressures in the Eagles’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys. After the game, Carter declined to speak with reporters. It marked the third game in a row that Carter has declined to speak with the media. He was asked why on Wednesday.
“I don’t think I’m a public spokesperson,” Carter said. “I think y’all just want to talk to me because we’re losing. I’ve seen you guys talking to [Jordan Davis]. I was getting ready right next to you guys. Usually y’all hover the locker, even when we’re getting ready, so I seen y’all talking to JD. By the time I put everything on, took my stuff out. I was called. But by that time, it was too late.”
Carter’s lagging production is part of a bigger issue on the Eagles defense this season. The team ranks 31st in sacks per game (1.1), and they’ve allowed the seventh most passing yards per game (239.9) and sixth most rushing yards per game (131.4).
What needs to change? According to Carter, “pretty much everything.”
“We have eight sacks, I believe, total, and it’s not to downgrade anybody, it’s me also,” Carter said. “But we just got to go out there work on our chemistry and working on like pretty much everything.”
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The Eagles are 2-5 and in third place in the NFC East. This is uncharted territory for Carter, who, at 25, already has a Super Bowl and two College Football Playoff national championships with the Georgia Bulldogs under his belt.
“This is my first time having this type of record and stuff like this, but it’s nothing to me,” Carter said. “When I first got in the league, they let me know the NFL is not easy to win in. It’s going to be hard. This is the year that’s proven that it’s hard to win in the NFL. We just got to change things.”
