How Eagles Are Saving Money on Jalen Carter Massive Contract Extension

The Philadelphia Eagles took care of the biggest storyline heading into training camp by signing Jalen Carter to a four-year, $152 million extension. Not only did the Eagles give Carter the highest average annual salary in NFL history for a defensive tackle ($38 million), they gave him the most guaranteed money ($106 million) for a player at his position.

The Carter deal was something the Eagles wanted to take care of before camp started, and they were able to accomplish that. With details of the deal finally released by Spotrac, the Eagles ended up saving more money.

Here is a look at Carter's new contract, combined with the final year of his rookie deal and teh fifth-year extension the Eagles exercised sinceCarter was a former first-round pick.

Jalen Carter contract

Year	Cap hit
2026	$9,109,730
2027	$9,499,114
2028	$15,541,114
2029	$22,264,114
2030	$29,446,114
2031	$32,034,114

Carter's contract runs until 2031, when including the final year of his rookie salary and the fifth-year option. In total, the deal comes down to six years and $182.8 million. Carter is making an average annual salary of $30.48 million when factoring in those two years added to the deal.

There is a void year after the 2031 season, which the Eagles would save $68.2 million in dead cap. The Eagles typically back end contracts with void years in order to manipulate the salary cap, which keeps rising every year.

The Eagles know how to structure contracts, and Carter's is the latest example of that. With the Carter deal in tow, they will pay Carter and Jordan Davis until the 2029 season.

"Since Jalen's been here, he's put his head down, he's worked hard, and he's made huge impact plays for this organization, for this team," said Eagles general manager Howie Roseman. "Last year, he wasn't 100%. He tried to fight through that and play through that. We understand that.

"We don't do anything based on retroactive performance; we're doing things based on future performance. We were trying to sign Jalen in March, understood it was unique because of where the market was and where he thought and Drew [Rosenhaus] thought it was going, but it was always positive and we were always trying to get him extended."

What the Eagles were doing with Carter is clear. They are banking on that deal being a bargain by the team the extension really kicks in that 2028 season. That will be after Carter's fifth-year option (or what was originally his fifth-year option year), banking on Carter being one of the elite defensive tackles in the league by the time Carter enters year six (the 2028 season).

The guaranteed money

The Eagles are rewarding Carter for future performance, but also past performance. This is where the guarantees kick in.

Carter is getting $40.8 million guaranteed at signing, which is his 2026 salary and 2027 compensation. All $30 million of his 2028 compensation is fully guaranteed in March of 2027 and $36 million of the 2029 compensation is in March of 2028.

There's where the Eagles are rewardig carter on past and future performance. With the way the contracts are rising with the salary cap, Carter's deal will be a bargain when the guaranteed portion of the deal is done.

That is, if he plays well. This is what the Eagles are banking on.

"This was a unique situation," Roseman said. "By the same token, getting this done before camp was important for all of us. Good things happen when you get things off your plate and you're able to focus on football."

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