Eagles’ Jason Kelce gives some impressions of OTA’s Jalen Carter

Kelce gives some impressions of Carter from the OTAs that originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Jason Kelce won’t really know what Jalen Carter is until the electrodes are turned on during training camp.

But just being with Carter this spring has piqued Kelce’s interest.

As guests of the Green Light podcast, Kelce and former teammate Chris Long spoke on a myriad of topics, including the Eagles’ No. 9 overall selection in the draft.

“I saw him when he visited the top 30 and shook his hand,” Kelce said. “It was like shaking hands with a big meat bear. He’s a very muscular, physically mature guy who looks physically ready to play straight away. We haven’t done much football yet. .

The Eagles are currently doing their spring training and haven’t technically even started their OTAs. And in today’s NFL, OTAs aren’t really going to give anyone a full appreciation of a defensive tackle. We won’t see that until training camp.

There are a few things, however, that Kelce noticed with Carter right around him in the building.

“I’ve never liked comps, but I think sometimes when you see a guy and it reminds you of another guy, there’s something about it,” Kelce said. “When you move anatomically the way someone else who was a good player moves and lean the same way. I think that’s one thing.

So that begs the question: who does Carter remind you of?

“I haven’t seen it enough to say that,” Kelce said. “We just lost a very, very good D tackle to (Javon) Hargrave and we still have Fletch (Cox). He kind of reminds me of some elements of a bit of those two guys. He’s thick in his lower body like Hargrave was, but I’ll be interested to see what his hands look like. I’ve only noticed the grip strength of two players in my career. One is Fletcher Cox, the other oddly enough is Clay Matthews.

The Eagles lost Hargrave in free agency to the 49ers but brought Cox back on a one-year contract for his 12th season in 2023.

After Kelce and Long took a brief detour to talk about Matthews’ surprising grip strength, Kelce came up with a name of more than one guy Carter kinda reminds him of.

“He kind of has a (Commanders Pro Bowl DT) Daron Payne going for him too, just body stature,” Kelce said. “He bends really well. Daron also sits with his ass kind of down, sort of in a 2 split stance even when playing a 2 split technique. That’s kinda how he kinda looks in his stance . I haven’t seen it enough yet to tell, but I’m just wandering around. You just saw someone lift weights. …

“Everything just seems to be moving properly. He kind of has, in some ways, one of the things that I’ve learned from watching Jason Peters over and over again, he never seems like he’s out of control or in the right body position. Especially at its peak. It was as if he was always in balance. A bit like that.

Kelce also praised a few other rookies like offensive lineman Tyler Steen and rusher Nolan Smith.

The whole interview is worth watching. Kelce and Long cover a bunch of different topics and it’s a fun listen/watch.

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