Even though he isn’t likely to be a free agent until 2027, now is the time to give a Jalen Carter contract extension for the Eagles.
With training camp now less than a month away, we’re inching closer to the return of meaningful NFL football. The 2025 season offers an opportunity for another Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles, who retooled their roster with a combination of extensions and free agent additions over the course of the offseason to maintain their position as frontrunners in the NFC. It’s been a very aggressive offseason, with Philadelphia giving out an enormous amount of long-term money while keeping their salary cap flexibility intact.
It’s a bit of a tightrope walk to maintain, but Howie Roseman’s approach to contract and salary cap management has produced undeniable success. In the spirit of that topic and given the dearth of news in the NFL over the coming weeks, why not take a look at some potential future moves for the Eagles over the coming months?
Roseman’s success as a cap manager goes hand-in-hand with his success in the NFL Draft, and that means a number of promising young players will soon come up for contract extensions. The largest and most daunting of those extensions is likely to be for defensive lineman Jalen Carter, who has quickly emerged as one of the best interior defenders in the league. The ninth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Georgia, Carter became a Pro Bowler in his first season as a full-time starter.
It’s important to note that while Jalen Carter first becomes eligible for an extension this year, his rookie contract technically takes him through 2026 at minimum and 2027 if and when the Eagles pick up his fifth-year option. So doing an extension immediately isn’t required. However, Roseman has shown a willingness and desire to get ahead of contracts by doing them as early as possible. I’d expect him to do the same with Carter, assuming he continues playing at an elite level.
Based on the assumption that Carter continues playing at a Pro Bowl level and is among the best players at his position once again in 2025, here’s my best guess at a potential contract extension for Jalen Carter.
What would an extension for Jalen Carter look like?
The current top contract for interior defensive linemen belongs to Chris Jones, who continues to dominate the position with a massive $31.75 million APY (average per year) number and $60 million guaranteed. That number is also 10th among all non-quarterbacks and fifth among defenders. Unless Carter ascends to becoming one of the best defenders in the NFL this season, we should expect his APY to come in below Jones’.
That being said, with the salary cap expected to increase and Carter’s youth, it’s entirely possible he asks for a contract similar to Jones. Given that, here’s my best guess at what Jalen Carter’s potential extension could look like:
Jalen Carter projected extension: 4 years, $120 million ($30 million APY), $72 million guaranteed, $24 million signing bonus
This contract would immediately place Jalen Carter in second among interior defensive linemen in all major categories, vaulting him ahead of Christian Wilkins ($27.5 million APY, $57.5 million guaranteed) and former teammate Milton Williams ($26 million APY, $51 million guaranteed). While it wouldn’t match Chris Jones APY, it would give Carter a significantly higher amount of guaranteed money ($72 million vs $60 million) and a much higher percentage of guarantees (60% vs 37.8%).
Given Howie Roseman’s tendencies, I’d expect this contract to mirror other recent Eagles extensions. The base salary will be placed at the lowest amount possible, with the vast majority of the contract paid out through signing and option bonuses. I won’t even attempt to predict exactly how Roseman will shape the deal in terms of actual dollar amounts of the individual bonuses or the number of void years. I do think it’s safe to predict that Carter’s deal is likely to be heavily backloaded and contain at least a couple void years to continue spreading out the cap hit from the signing and option bonuses.
This four-year extension would keep Jalen Carter under contract with Philadelphia through the 2030 season, and avoid the potential of drama with the fifth-year option or franchise tag in the future. While it’s a massive contract to give out to a player with only three NFL seasons under his belt, Carter could very well be worth the risk. It’s been shown time and time again that being early on a contract extension is typically the better path than being too late.
What are your thoughts on this potential extension for Jalen Carter? Would you agree with the Eagles extending Carter as soon as possible, even if it meant giving out such a massive deal?
