Jalen Carter working hard to be "better than last year"
Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter played 563 snaps in 16 games last season as a rookie, or 35.8 per game. Fletcher Cox's retirement will increase that number this season.
Cox led all Eagles' defensive tackles with 684 snaps in 15 games, a 45.6 per game average.
To that end, Carter has spent the offseason working on his conditioning.
"Really, I’d like to be more conditioned than working on technique because we got all year for technique stuff," Carter said, via Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "We work on technique everyday in practice with our hands, working on pass rushes and stuff like that. But you really don’t work on conditioning a lot. But I did more conditioning than I did hand movement and some of the stuff like that.”
Carter finished second for defensive rookie of the year after being the favorite at the midway point. He had four sacks, seven quarterback hits, five tackles for loss and two forced fumbles in the first eight games but only two sacks, two quarterback hits and three tackles for loss in the final eight.
“My first year was OK,” Carter said. “It wasn’t how I wanted it to end. A lot of stuff that I seen on film is stuff I need to fix. It’s OK. We here now, and I’m ready to be better than last year.”
Carter hasn't set any personal goals for 2024 yet. For now, it's just about getting in better condition and being a better player.
