Eagles’ Jason Kelce Happy to Have Jalen Carter: ‘Excited as Hell!’
PHILADEPHIA – Jason Kelce wanted to set the record straight about going one-on-one with Philadelphia Eagles first-round draft pick Jalen Carter.
After the Eagles made the Georgia defensive tackle the ninth overall pick in last week’s 2023 NFL Draft, he said that Kelce told him he was looking forward to going one-on-one in practice against him.
“He misheard,” said Kelce, the veteran center, during a post-draft New Heights podcast he does with brother Travis. “I said I’m not looking forward to one-on-ones. I don’t look forward to one-on-ones with anybody.”
Kelce had plenty more to say about Carter.
Twice, the center met him.
The first time was when Carter took a top-30 visit to Philadelphia in the pre-draft process. The second time was when the Eagles traded up one spot to select Carter with the ninth overall pick in last week’s 2023 NFL Draft.
“He’s been a great kid in his interactions with me,” Kelce said. “He’s looked me in the eye. I feel a lot of these guys who have character concerns, I’m more concerned with guys who think they’re too good. I didn’t get that vibe with him when I met with him. He’s looking up, he’s looking straight at you.
“That’s obviously not a great litmus test, but we’ll see. I can’t remember the last time the Eagles had someone in the locker room that was that big of a cancer that it upset the chemistry of the team. I can’t remember the last time that happened.”
Carter liked both interactions with the Eagles’ veteran center.
Of course, on the second one, there were plenty of emotions swirling around from the Georgia defensive tackle after he was picked.
“He was just cool, cool vibes,” said Carter. “He's a cool guy to be around. He made it fun for me, just explaining what Philly is about, that it's just a family here, everyone is going to take care of you and you're going to have some fun.”
How much fun was Kelce having?
He was hanging with fans attending the draft in Kansas City, most of them Chiefs fans. When the pick was announced, he chugged a beer and led the crowd in an E-A-G-L-E-S chant.
“I was going to be chugging beer regardless of who they selected, but definitely happy they chose Jalen Carter,” Jason told his brother Travis. “…The big question about Jalen is the character concerns, right? Dude, I don’t get too concerned with character stuff especially when it comes to college kids.
“These are highly transformative years for all of these guys. Obviously, it’s a concern whenever there’s character stuff out there and you have to do homework and you have to vet with different sources that you trust and just how bad those concerns are, but, man, I think people doing a lot of growing in college, people do a lot of growing after college. These are still young kids, still young men.
“Jalen gets a chance now to reinvent himself.”
Kelce touched on the fact that Carter is stepping into a great defensive line room with a pair of longtime veterans in Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham.
“We’re all excited as hell that he’s a part of the team,” said Kelce. “Now he gets to go out there and earn it, man, go out there every day, go out there and become the player that you can be, and he’s going to do it a room with a bunch of other great guys.
“Environment makes a difference, who you interact with makes a difference. He’s going to enter a great room in Philadelphia and he’s going to have an outstanding opportunity to take ownership over this.”
The way Kelce views it, Carter can go in one of two directions.
“He’s going to make a choice, either he’s going to commit himself and dedicate himself and do things the right way and he’ll have a long, illustrious career where he can end up changing the lives of his entire family, or he’s not,” said the center.
“At the end of the day, I like taking chances on a guy that has this much upside. I really do. I think it usually ends up panning out.”
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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