Vic Fangio says Jalen Carter knows he has to get into better shape
He’s so good, and to hear Vic Fangio talk, he could be even better.
Fangio on Tuesday questioned Jalen Carter’s fitness level and said he’s spoken to the 3rd-year interior lineman about getting into better shape.
There were a handful of plays in the win over the Chiefs Sunday on a hot day in Kansas City where it clearly looks like Carter is struggling. Notably, the last two plays on the Chiefs’ 10-play, 5 1/2-minute 2nd-quarter touchdown drive – a couple Patrick Mahomes scrambles – Carter looked especially gassed.
Carter actually played well Sunday in the Eagles’ 20-17 win. He had three quarterback hits, two tackles and a tackle for loss, playing 48 of 60 snaps. But there were moments where he didn’t look like himself.
Fangio wasn’t even asked about Carter’s fitness level. He brought it up on his own.
“He had some good rushes,” Fangio said. “I think he needs to round into better shape. Both he and I talked about that, and he readily admits that. I think we’ll even get more. But I thought for everything that has gone on in his world, I thought he played pretty good.”
Everything going on in his world is a reference to Carter’s Week 1 ejection before the Cowboys game.
But Fangio also said issues with Carter’s fitness don’t have anything to do with that.
“No, not just (not) playing week one,” he said. “It’s just everything.”
There were no questions about Carter’s fitness last year, when he played 83.6 percent of the Eagles’ snaps (831 of 994).
That was the 2nd-most snaps of any interior lineman in the league, behind only Zach Allen, who played 89.4 percent of the Broncos’ defensive snaps (964 of 1,078).
It’s also the highest percentage of snaps played by any Eagles defensive lineman as far back as 2012, when Stathead began tracking snap counts.
Fangio was asked how a 24-year-old who made 2nd-team all-pro and a Pro Bowl in his first year as a starter could be out of shape.
“There’s a lot of reasons for that,” he said. “One, he has had a shoulder issue, which has limited his time on the practice field. The shorter practices that we do, the lack of reps that he’s gotten for multiple reasons, all of that.”
It wouldn’t be a Vic Fangio conversation if he wasn’t taking a hilarious passive aggressive shot at what he sees as short practices.
Carter missed the first three days of training camp practice – July 23, 24 and 26 – and was limited on July 28, 29 and Aug. 1 with a shoulder injury, but he practiced every day the rest of camp.
He acknowledged after his first practice back after the layoff that he needed to be in better shape.
“It is a little off,” he said of his conditioning. “But it’s something I’ll work on every day. As soon as I’m done with this, I’m going to hop on a treadmill, get a couple runs in, then hop on the bike. It’s just going to get better every day.”
But that was on Aug. 3. It’s now Sept. 17, and according to Fangio his fitness is still a work in progress.
Carter also seemed to suffer a hand injury during the game on Sunday, but Fangio said that’s not related to his fitness issues.
“He’s got a little something there,” he said. “But it’s nothing that’s going to slow him down too much.”
Carter had a monster 2024 season, with 4 ½ sacks, 16 quarterback hits, 12 tackles for loss and six pass deflections in the regular season. He added two sacks, seven quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and three pass deflections in the postseason.
You always take Pro Football Focus grades with a grain of salt, but Carter’s tackling grade of 25.2 ranked 92nd out of 101 interior linemen who played at least 20 snaps in Week 2, and his run defense grade of 43.4 ranked 90th. But his pressure grade of 65.5 ranked 34th.
Vic Fangio says Jalen Carter knows he has to get into better shape
