Eagles' Jalen Carter Impressing Early: 'Made People Look Silly!'
PHILADELPHIA – Lane Johnson is in a unique position in that the Philadelphia Eagles right tackle has had a front-row seat to watch the development of rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter while seeing the progress of the player who lines up next to him, right guard Cam Jurgens.
Following Day 13 of Eagles training camp on Saturday, Johnson talked about both players.
Johnson got an eyeful of Carter because the ninth overall pick in the draft got all the first-team reps with Fletcher Cox out dealing with knee soreness.
“Most times he’s inside on the guards, every now and then he’ll line up outside,” said Johnson about Carter. “He’s a guy that if you’re playing high, he’ll get the best of you. He plays very low.
“He’s very strong and he’s very quick, lateral quickness. He’s made a lot of people look silly in camp so far, but yeah, I’ve been very impressed with him from Day 1. He has tremendous talent, ability, and he plays hard every down.”
Carter had a pass deflection on one rep during Saturday’s practice and on another he knocked Johnson off balance with only his left arm. Most tackles not named Johnson may have been cooked right there.
Johnson, however, was able to quickly regain his balance and anchor, all in one motion as Carter began to bull rush before being stopped in his tracks by one of the game’s best tackles.
“I think Jalen Carter’s going to make a lot of noise this year, I really do,” said Johnson. “I think he can play right now and play at a very high level right now. So, I’m confident in him.”
Johnson was asked who he would compare Carter to and he said his pass-rush ability is similar to former Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave while overall, he’s a bigger version of Geno Atkins, the eight-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Atkins is 6-1, 300. Johnson said Carter is 6-3, 320 and added about his teammate, “He’s impressive. He’s impressed me.”
As for Jurgens, the Eagles feel comfortable enough that he will be able to make the adjustment from center to right guard that they didn’t see the need to give him any snaps in the first two preseason games.
“It goes down to reps and you look at athletic ability,” said Johnson about the second-year Jurgens. “He might be undersized, he’s probably 305, 310, but strength-wise like I said, I’ve seen him cross squat 550 pounds.
“He’s as strong as anybody on the line. Good quickness, he can do a lot of things similar to (center Jason Kelce) at the second level. He’s a scrapper. He comes to work every day, doesn’t really get tired, never complains, he’s a good guy to have next to you.”
Johnson said earlier in camp that developing chemistry with Jurgens would be the biggest thing that needs to happen, and he said that is happening.
“The more reps we have, the better timing we have with our steps in the run game then pass blocking,” he said. “Just like I had with the other guys, Isaac (Seumalo) and (Brandon) Brooks, the more reps I took, the more comfortable I got.
“It started in OTAs, but ever since the beginning of camp, we have just consistently gotten better week by week. Today was a big day for us. We had long drive drill, lots of plays, to get us tired and see how we play whenever that happens.”
The Eagles will take on the Indianapolis Colts at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday for the team's final preseason game.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Philadelphia Eagles? Click Here.
Want even more Philadelphia Eagles news? Check out the SI.com team page here
