Kelce gives some of Carter’s impressions from OTAs that originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jason Kelce won’t really know what Jalen Carter is all about until the pads come on during training camp.
But just being around Carter this spring has piqued Kelce’s interest.
As a guest on the Green Light podcast, Kelce and his former teammate Chris Long talked about a variety of topics, including the Eagles’ No. 9 draft.
“I saw him on his top 30 visit and shook his hand,” said Kelce. “It was like shaking the hand of a big meat paw bear. He is a very muscular mature physically looking man, who looks like he is physically ready to play right away. We haven’t played much football yet.”
The Eagles are now in their spring training and technically haven’t even started their OTAs yet. And in today’s NFL, OTAs won’t really give anyone full credit for a defensive tackle. We only see that at training camp.
However, there are a few little things that Kelce has picked up on now that Carter is just in the building with him.
“I’ve never been into compositions, but I sometimes think if you see a man and it reminds you of another man, there’s something going on there,” Kelce said. “If you move anatomically like someone else who was a good player moves and you bend the same way. I think that’s one thing.”
So that begs the question: who does Carter remind you of?
“I haven’t seen him enough to say that,” said Kelce. “We just lost a really, really good D tackle in (Javon) Hargrave and we still have Fletch (Cox). He kind of reminds me of some elements of a little bit of those two guys. He’s thick in the lower body like Hargrave was, but I’m curious how his hands feel. I’ve only noticed two players grip strength in my career. One is Fletcher Cox, the other oddly Clay Matthews.’
The Eagles lost Hargrave in free agency to the 49ers, but brought Cox back on a one-year deal for his 12th season in 2023.
After Kelce and Long took a short detour to talk about Matthews’ surprising grip strength, Kelce mentioned another man’s name that Carter kind of reminds him of.
“He also has a little (Commanders Pro Bowl DT) Daron Payne to him, just body size,” said Kelce. “He bends really well. Daron also sits with his butt down, kind of in a 2-gap stance, even when he’s playing a one-gap, 2 technique. That’s kind of what he looks like in his stance. I haven’t seen enough of him to say but just walk around you just see someone lifting weights.…
“Everything looks like it’s moving well. He’s in some ways one of the things I’ve learned after watching Jason Peters over and over, it never seems like he’s out of control or not in the right body position. Especially in his prime. It was like he was always in balance. It kind of feels that way.”
Kelce also had high praise for a few other rookies, such as offensive lineman Tyler Steen and edge rusher Nolan Smith.
The whole interview is worth watching. Kelce and Long touched on a lot of different topics and it’s fun to listen/watch.
