The Unspeakable Sum: Will Jalen Carter’s Next Contract Break All NFL Records?
Let me cut right to the chase: the buzz swirling around Jalen Carter’s upcoming contract extension is nothing short of electrifying. Here’s a young man who’s already carving out his legacy as one of the most formidable defensive tackles not just in Eagles history, but across the entire league. With the salary cap ballooning year after year, and Carter’s relentless dominance on the field, we’re staring down the possibility of witnessing the first-ever $40 million per year deal for an interior lineman. Mind-blowing, right? But that’s exactly where the numbers are pointing, and trust me—Howie Roseman is not about to let this generational talent slip through the cracks. Alongside some eye-opening takes on overlooked Eagles legends and a no-holds-barred look at defensive paychecks, this installment of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations dives deep, sparking more thoughts than just contract values. Stick with me — only six more to go before training camp kicks off, and the storylines are heating up.
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2. Only three players in NFL history had 11,000 receiving yards and averaged at least 17 yards per catch. Two are Hall of Famers Don Maynard and James Lofton. The other is DeSean Jackson.
An early thought about what Jalen Carter’s next contract might look like, an all-time great Eagle who’s been snubbed by the Eagles Hall of Fame and the short list of defensive players who’ve earned more than Bryce Huff in their Eagles career.
8C. The last Hall of Famer to complete a pass as an Eagle is Carmichael, who was 1-for-4 passing in his career but with a 45-yard TD pass to Quick in a 22-21 loss to the Colts at the Vet in 1983. Carmichael also caught a six-yard pass from Ron Jaworski in that game. The only Eagles with a TD pass and TD catch in the same game since then? Keith Byars in a 31-0 win over the Packers at the Vet in 1990 and Nick Foles in Super Bowl LII vs. the Patriots in Minneapolis after the 2017 season. You may remember that one.
9C. Hoying;’s 224 passes in 1998 without a TD pass is the most in NFL history, 53 more than Ryan Lindley of the Cards had in 2012. His 45.6 passer rating is the lowest since 1998. And Hoying’s nine interceptions are the most by a quarterback without a TD pass since 1977, when Randy Hedberg had 10 INTs and no TD passes. Hoying’s position coach in 1998 was Sean Payton.
6. Nick Muse is an obscure camp body in a long list of camp bodies, one of five tight ends on the Eagles’ roster behind Dallas Goedert and Grant Calcaterra. You probably never heard of him. I’ve probably never heard of him. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Muse caught 67 passes for 805 yards and three TDs in three seasons at South Carolina and was originally the Vikings’ 7th-round pick in 2022. He has one career reception – a 22-yarder from one-time Eagle Nick Mullens in a loss to the Lions at Ford Field late in the 2023 season. He’s been released four times and finished last year on the Eagles’ practice squad. Why are we even talking about Nick Muse? Because at the last OTA practice on Tuesday he made the best catch of the spring, laying out to make a diving snag of a Kyle McCord pass. Muse also had a sweet TD catch from McCord earlier in the same practice. Those catches came after TV cameras had to shut down, so you’ll never see them. But they were eye-opening. I can’t sit here and tell you Muse has a better shot at snagging a third tight end roster spot – a spot that may not even exist – than Kylen Granson, Harrison Bryant or E.J. Jenkins. But I can tell you that plays like that are noticed by coaches, teammates and GMs, and if Muse keeps making catches like that he’s sure not going to hurt himself.
5A. Don Burroughs is one of the more under-rated Eagles. He went undrafted out of Colorado A&M (now Colorado State), where he was a quarterback, converted to safety and spent his first five seasons with the Rams, intercepting 21 passes, including nine as a rookie in 1955 and seven more in 1958. After the 1959 season, the Rams traded Burroughs to the Eagles, where he was reunited with Norm Van Brocklin, his teammate his first three years in L.A. (and the guy who nicknamed him “The Blade”). Burroughs’ first three years with the Eagles, he had nine, seven and seven interceptions and started on the 1960 NFL Championship team. So in a three-year span he had 23 INTs and won a title. Burroughs retired after the 1964 season with 29 INTs in just five seasons with the Eagles. And here’s the craziest thing: Burroughs had two seasons with nine INTs and three more with seven INTs and never made a Pro Bowl. Burroughs is the only player in NFL history with more than three non-Pro Bowl seasons with seven or more INTs. And his 50 career interceptions are 2nd-most ever by a player who never made a Pro Bowl, behind long-time Bengal Ken Riley, who had 65 and is now in the Hall of Fame. His 50 interceptions are also 9th-most all-time by an undrafted player (tied with Palmyra’s Deron Cherry). And his 29 INTs as an Eagle are 6th-most in franchise history even though he only played 64 games.
7. Since 1960, Eagles offensive linemen have made 48 Pro Bowls. More than half of them – 26 out of 48 – have been coached by Jeff Stoutland.
8A. The last Hall of Famer to throw a pass for the Eagles is Cris Carter, who threw an incomplete pass to Mike Quick in the second quarter of the Eagles’ 28-23 win over the Cards at Busch Stadium in St. Louis in Week of the 1987 season. That was Carter’s first NFL game, and four plays after the incomplete pass he had his first of his 1,101 career receptions, a 22-yard touchdown from Randall Cunningham. Carter played 234 games and that was the only pass he ever threw. So he threw his first NFL pass before he caught his first NFL pass.
5B. Despite all that, Burroughs is not in the Eagles Hall of Fame. That’s an inexcusable oversight.
3. According to Spotrac’s all-time franchise earnings database, only 13 defensive players in Eagles history have earned more than Bryce Huff, who pocketed .3 million for his cameo in Philadelphia. Those 12 are: Fletcher Cox (5.89 million), Brandon Graham (.76 million), Darius Slay (.20 million), Malcolm Jenkins (.99 million), Trent Cole (.85 million), Josh Sweat (.80), Javon Hargrave ( million), Asante Samuel (.94 million), Haason Reddick (.5 million), Brian Dawkins (.11 million), Rodney McLeod (.25 million), Troy Vincent (.1 million) and Derek Barnett (.21 million). Frightening.
Only six more Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Offseason Observations until the start of training camp! Once you finish this one, only five more to go!
1. Here’s a question to ponder: If Milton Williams is worth million per year, what is Jalen Carter worth? Scary, right? Williams is a fine interior lineman and was very good in the postseason during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run. Carter is a flat-out monster, one of the three-best defensive tackles in football and already the best in Eagles history. And on Jan. 5, when his third NFL regular season ends, he’ll be eligible for a contract extension. Two things are virtually guaranteed: 1) Howie Roseman is not going to let Carter leave, and 2) Carter next offseason will become the highest-paid interior lineman in history. Chris Jones is currently tops with an average of .75 million per year through 2028, and he deserves it after three straight 1st-team all-pros, six straight Pro Bowls and three Super Bowl championships. Christian Wilkins is 2nd-highest with an annual average of .5 million through 2026, and he’s nowhere near the player Carter is. So what is Carter worth? Accounting for his vast potential and the ever-rising salary cap, we may be looking at the first million interior lineman. Crazy? Maybe. But that’s where all the numbers are pointing. Carter just turned 24. He’s only been a starter for one year, and he’s got unlimited upside. Twenty-five NFL players are currently averaging million per year, 23 of them quarterbacks, plus Ja’Marr Chase (.3 million annual average) and Myles Garrett ( million). Jalen Hurts is the highest-paid Eagle ever at million per year and A.J. Brown is next at million per year. But Carter will sign his deal two years after them, and with each passing year as the cap goes up, contracts go up. He’s not going to make quarterback money, but Roseman will make him one of the highest-paid defensive players in the game. And if he doesn’t quite reach million per year, he’s going to be at or above Nick Bosa / Maxx Crosby / Danielle Hunter range, which is between and million per year. I’m thinking or million per year minimum. Carter is one of the best defensive players in football and he’s about to get paid for it.
8B. Only four other Hall of Famers have thrown a pass in an Eagles uniform: Sonny Jurgensen (1,107 passes from 1957 through 1963), Norm Van Brocklin (998 passes from 1958 through 1960), Harold Carmichael (four passes from 1974 through 1983) and Steve Van Buren (three passes from 1945 through 1948).
9B. Overall, the Eagles had just seven passing TDs all year, five by Detmer, two by Peete and none by Hoying. Only two teams have had fewer since 1977 – the 1995 Bucs had five and the 2000 Bengals six.
4. The Chris Simms / Jalen Hurts thing is just comical at this point. Simms painted himself in a corner back in 2021 when he didn’t even include Hurts in his ranking of the top 40 quarterbacks in the NFL (which did include Kellen Mond, who has as many career completions as Hurts has Super Bowl appearances). Simms continues to throw shade at Hurts and now has him 10th on his latest QB ranking. That’s one spot lower than last year. So he goes 16-3 including the playoffs, is named Super Bowl MVP and drops a spot. I like Chris. He’s a good dude and knows football, and he’s joined Dave Zangaro and me on the Eagle Eye podcast to explain his thoughts on Hurts. Still, because Hurts isn’t a classic quarterback who stands in the pocket and throws for 5,000 yards, a lot of old-school analysts just don‘t like him. I guess he doesn’t fit their mold of how an elite quarterback is supposed to play. But my goodness this man is 43-12 over the last three years with six postseason wins and two outstanding Super Bowl performances. There have been 83 quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for 4,500 yards in a season and four of them won a Super Bowl – Eli Manning in 2011, Tom Brady in 2020, Matt Stafford in 2021 and Patrick Mahomes in 2022. Four of 83. Piling up passing yards might get you on these top-10 lists, but it doesn’t win championships. There’s no doubt Hurts could chuck the ball up and down the field and put up big passing numbers. But the idea is to win, and he’s done that over the last three years better than anybody other than Mahomes … who he beat in the Super Bowl four months ago. I like stats. Stats are cool. Stats are fun. I’ll take winning anytime.
9A. During a five-game stretch of the 1998 season, the Eagles ran 342 offensive plays without a touchdown pass. They only scored two touchdowns during that five-game span – both on Charlie Garner runs. Their quarterbacks – Bobby Hoying, Rodney Peete and Koy Detmer – threw 184 consecutive passs without a TD before Detmer threw one to Jeff Graham in the 24-16 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field. In all, Eagles QBs threw just two TDs – Peete to Kassem Sinceno against Washington and the Vet and Detmer to Graham – the first 11 games of the season, spanning 376 pass attempts. That’s Dana Bible football right there.
10. It’s interesting to look back at the Eagles’ pass rush in 2024 and how a mediocre regular season morphed into a historic postseason. It’s easy to forget now, but the Eagles were middle-of-the-pack rushing the quarterback during the regular season. Really, they underachieved. They averaged one sack every 7.6 pass plays during the regular season, 15th-best in the league. That jumped 25 percent to 10.13 in the postseason. In the last 11 games of the regular season, the Eagles had 24 sacks – 2.2 per game. In the playoffs they averaged 4.0 per game, including six in the Super Bowl. In 17 regular-season games, Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, Milton Williams, Jalyx Hunt, Jordan Davis, Oren Burks and Moro Ojomo totaled 22 sacks. In the postseason, those same seven guys had 14. That’s one of the reasons I’m not super alarmed at losing guys like Sweat and Williams. They came up huge in the biggest moments, no doubt, and they were a huge part of an unforgettable championship season. But their postseason performances were the exception. It’s not like they were crushing it all year. They weren’t. They were OK but not elite. And even with those losses, Smith is going to be a 12-sack guy, Hunt is going to be an 8.0 sack guy and Azeez Ojulari has averaged more sacks per game in his career than Sweat (0.48 to 0.41). Factor in Jalen Carter’s pressure from the inside and whatever the Eagles get from Josh Uche and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eagles generate pressure at a higher rate this year than last year. They have the people to do it.
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