While a guest on the “Green Light” podcast, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce provided insight on the team’s No. 9 draft pick, former Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
Although Kelce and Carter have yet to face each other in practice, Carter has already made a strong impression on the seasoned six-time Pro Bowl selection.
This positive impression traces to Carter’s visit to Philadelphia before the draft, where the 6-foot-3, 310-pound athlete left an indelible mark.
“I saw him on his top 30 visit and shook his hand,” Kelce said. “It was like shaking a big meat paw bear hand. He’s a very muscle bound, mature physically looking guy, who looks like physically he’s ready to play right away. We haven’t done a lot of football yet.”
Despite the absence of practice and their impending clash in training camp, the 35-year-old Kelce has already discerned enough, based on Carter’s physique, to draw comparisons.
“I’ve never liked comps, but I think sometimes when you see a guy and it reminds you of another guy, there’s something to that,” Kelce said. “When you anatomically move the way somebody else who was a good player moves and you bend the same way. I think that’s one thing.”
When prompted to reveal whom Carter reminds him of, Kelce responded:
“I have not seen him enough to say that,” Kelce said. “We just lost a really, really good D-tackle in (Javon) Hargrave and we still have Fletch (Cox). He kind of reminds me on some elements of a little bit of both of those guys. He’s thick in the lower body the way Hargrave was, but I’m going to be interested to see what his hands feel like. I’ve only noticed two players’ grip strengths in my career. One is Fletcher Cox, the other one oddly enough is Clay Matthews.”
Even solely based on observations, Kelce is impressed with Carter’s on-field control.
“Everything just looks like it moves right. He kind of, in some ways, one of the things I learned after watching Jason Peters over and over again, it never looks like he’s not in control or in the right body position. In his prime especially. It was just like he was always in balance. Kind of feels like that.”