Jalen Carter Decision Looming in Advance of Chiefs Game

Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had some stong words with regard to Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter spitting on his quarterback Dak Prescott just six seconds into the season on Thursday night.

Officials immediately ejected Carter just before the first offensive snap.

“Obviously, there’s no place for that and they paid a heck of a price,” Jones said Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “That is their best defensive player that got to sit that game out. That’s as strong as it gets on deterring that kind of behavior.”

Maybe not.

According to Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk, Carter is still at risk for being suspended when the Eagles come to Kansas City for Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch (3:25 p.m. CT, FOX/WDAF Channel 4, 96.5 The Fan). Some assumed that since the league did not announce a suspension on Monday, the NFL would simply keep with precedent in handling similar incidents over the last several decades and levy a substantial fine.

“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, however, a suspension is still on the table,” Florio wrote Tuesday morning. “We’re also told that the decision is currently being finalized.

“Carter essentially served a one-game suspension because he was ejected before he played a single snap. That points to a fine, perhaps in the amount of a check for the game he didn’t play — $57,222.”

Potential paradigm shift

But as Adam Schefter reported Sunday morning, the league is mulling whether to use Carter’s choice saliva as a paradigm shift aligned with its heavy emphasis on sportsmanship.

“A speech from the spring could be instructive as to where the NFL might end up,” Schefter explained Sunday morning on ESPN.com, referring to a presentation last March at the annual league meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.

In front of more than 300 of the league’s highest-ranking team officials, executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent explained that sportsmanship is one of the biggest threats to the NFL’s brand.

Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) scrambles against the Philadelphia Eagles in the first quarter in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Setting example at lower levels

The league also could be concerned that just 48 hours after Carter was ejected from the Cowboys game, a University of Florida defensive lineman was ejected from a college game against South Florida for spitting on an opponent.

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