On the same day after Denzel Ward became the highest paid defensive back in the National Football League, Jalen Carter of Apopka, Florida became the highest paid defensive tackle in NFL history. Carter signed a four year contract worth $152 million according to Martin Frank of the Delaware News Journal on Tuesday.
This means that Carter will now be making $38 million per year. Ward is making $31.1 million as the highest paid defensive back. The previously highest paid defensive tackle was Jeffery Simmons of Jena, Louisiana, who signed a three-year contract worth $105.8 million with the Tennessee Titans on June 19. Simmons is making $35.3 million per year, a total of $2.7 million less per year than Carter.
The Eagles decision comes with a serious risk. That is because Carter missed six games in 2025 with a shoulder injury. In 11 games, Carter had 33 combined tackles (21 solo tackles and 12 assisted tackles), five tackles for a loss, 12 quarterback hits, seven pass deflections and three sacks. He was selected to the Pro Bowl for the second straight year despite missing a third of the season.
Carter was on the Eagles team that won Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025. In the game, he had two quarterback hits. Carter was the Eagles’s first round pick, ninth overall, in the 2023 NFL Draft out of the University of Georgia. He was the first defensive tackle taken in the 2023 NFL Draft. With the Bulldogs, Carter won the 2022 and 2023 College Football National Championships.
