PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Carter came in the NFL draft not quite two months after the Eagles lost Super Bowl LVII. He’s a lot like tight end Dallas Goedert that way, in that both were the first players selected after the Eagles had been to a Super Bowl.
Except in Goedert’s case, he came in 2018, less than two months after the Eagles beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. The tight end played in some big games at South Dakota State, but nothing like Carter did at Georgia.
Carter played in, and won, back-to-back national titles before arriving ninth overall in the 2023 draft.
“It’s going to be a big-(butt) goal to win the Super Bowl coming off two nattys in college,” said the Eagles defensive tackle, who was runner-up in the defensive rookie of the year voting last season.
This year, Carter took his game to another level, constantly fighting through double-teams to terrorize offenses, and he’s done it without Fletcher Cox, who retired after last season.
“It’s like in college, I had Jordan Davis, Travon Walker, all those big guys in front of me,” he said. “When they left, we were all thinking the same thing, like are we still going to be the same? Are we still going to have sacks and pressures. At the end of the day, we had to go our thing, trust one another and make sure our connection was strong, and just go out there and ball.”
How did his time at Georgia, and playing for national titles, prepare him for what awaits in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX against the Chiefs?
“It’s really nothing,” he said. “I know there’s gonna be a lot of media and stuff, but I’m getting ready for the game. I’m not looking forward to the media and all that. There’s going to be a lot of talking, but I’m ready for the game.”
He has to wait a week for the game, and what will happen between Sunday and next Sunday will be a balancing act of preparation and media obligations.
“Yeah, it’s a big game, everybody’s going to be watching it,” he said. “I happened to do it twice, go to natty twice, so I’m used to it. Super Bowl is still different. It’s the NFL, so it’s the highest level. I’m still taking it calm, how I did at the nattys. I’m just ready for the game.”
