PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts offered a rare speck of detail into his personal life when he said his wife stuck a $5 bill into his backpack ahead of his first day of training camp.
Just a bit of an inside joke between the power couple.
Hurts skipped spending it on a vending machine snack and went straight to the Philadelphia Eagles player who might never need the smallest of loans.
“I took that $5 bill and I went and gave it to Jalen Carter, and I smacked
it on his chest. And I said, ‘Let me put five on top of that,’” Hurts said.
Carter kept the petty cash. The richest of the rich can always use small bills, even as the 25-year-old Carter signed the richest deal for a defensive tackle in NFL history.
The Eagles signed Carter this week to a four-year extension that included $106 million guaranteed through the 2031 season.
Make that $106,000,005.
“I said if he would’ve signed it, it’d probably be worth $500," Carter said. "I got it held. It’s at the house, though. I literally held it all day. It fell out of my pockets with teammates giving it to me. It was a funny moment, though.”
Carter was selected ninth overall in the 2023 draft and has been unstoppable for a defense that spurred the Eagles to a Super Bowl championship two seasons ago. He had three sacks, 12 quarterback hits and 33 tackles last season for the NFC East champions and has paired with former Georgia teammate Jordan Davis — who signed a three-year, $65 million guaranteed contract extension in March — to form a formidable defensive front.
“We felt like that was one of the strengths of our team and we wanted that to be one of the strengths of our team going forward,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “The defensive tackle position in the league, in college football, it’s a deficient position. It’s hard to find guys like that and we feel like it was a priority.”
Roseman and the Eagles believe their faith in Carter was rewarded and that he has blossomed into a player of high value on the field. They must hope he continues to make headlines only for his play.
Carter's career biography will always include his involvement at Georgia in a crash that killed a teammate, offensive lineman Devin Willock, and a Georgia recruiting staffer, Chandler LeCroy.
Carter was given one year of probation and fined $1,000 after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing related to the wreck.
On the field, Carter spoiled the Eagles' opening night ceremony of their Super Bowl win when he spit on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Carter was fined the equivalent of his game check for Week 1 because the NFL considered the punishment a one-game suspension with time served. The two-time Pro Bowler was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct before the first snap from scrimmage.
He was penalized three times in 2024 for unnecessary roughness and was benched to start a game in a disciplinary move by coach Nick Sirianni. Carter also was fined $17,445 that season for an open-handed blow to the head of Washington Commanders center Tyler Biadasz in the NFC championship game.
He's got the cash now to cover any more damages, if necessary.
Only pro athletes and entertainers usually get that kind of leeway to mess up and still make massive money.
“Like anyone, when you’re 25 years old, you’re still growing as a person and as a player,” Roseman said.
Carter has made the most of his extra chances professionally and will anchor defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's line that stands to rank among the best of the NFL.
He has leaned on his “big brother” in Davis ever since they were teammates and 2021 national champions at Georgia.
The Eagles moved up two spots to get Davis in the 2022 draft — the same night they traded with Tennessee for wide receiver A.J. Brown — and watched him develop into an integral part of Philadelphia’s defensive line. A run-stuffer in the interior, Davis had a career-high 4 1/2 sacks last season with nine tackles for loss and six quarterback hits.
“Selfishly, I wanted to keep all the Georgia guys together," Davis said.
Selfishly, Eagles fans want to keep their championship core together.
The Eagles do, too, and they all could get their wish under one of Roseman's core commandments in building a roster: draft, develop, sign to extensions.
With Carter and Davis locked up under lucrative deals, the Eagles could face a similar situation next offseason with Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and Jalyx Hunt all on deck for long-term deals.
DeJean is one of the best defensive backs in the NFL and the 2024 second-round pick out of Iowa still has two more seasons ahead before he is eligible for free agency.
As history shows, Roseman won't let contract issues linger beyond next season on players he truly values. Take a look around at the select well-heeled fans allowed at Eagles training camp, and DeJean's No. 33 jersey or T-shirt were among the most popular choices for fans to wear, especially for young kids and teenagers.
DeJean forever stamped himself in Eagles history when he picked off Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes' pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown in their Super Bowl victory.
DeJean can take it to the house again next offseason with an extension that would make him among the highest paid cornerbacks in the NFL.
Oh, and Eagles fans can keep their DeJean merchandise.
“I would say to our fans, if you’re wearing a jersey with some of those guys with those names on the back,” Roseman said, “we fully intend for those guys to be here on the long term.”
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