PHILADELPHIA – Howie Roseman did not blink. The Eagles’ general manager extended Jalen Carter on the opening day of training camp, handing the defensive tackle a four-year, $152 million deal with $106 million guaranteed that immediately made Carter the highest-paid interior lineman in NFL history. The paperwork landed before the pads came out.
Then Jonathan Greenard went on the physically unable to perform list.
By the time Wednesday’s first practice at the Jefferson Health Training Complex wrapped, Philadelphia had generated two headlines that told the same underlying story from different angles: the Eagles are betting enormous money on this defensive line, and as of Day 1 of camp, both of their most expensive investments on that unit are operating with some form of managed uncertainty.
Carter’s deal runs through 2031. Roseman, who has built a career on moving faster than rival front offices on extensions, told reporters he had “no hesitation about extending” Carter, a phrase that is either the product of absolute institutional confidence or the kind of language that accompanies a $106 million wire transfer. The Eagles organization, per Roseman, simply “does it the right way.”
The right way, in this case, means trusting Carter’s ceiling over his recent floor. NBC Sports reported that Carter dealt with inconsistent performances during the final weeks of the 2025 season, and his history includes shoulder surgeries that have affected his durability. At 24, he is young enough that those concerns carry weight but not yet enough to settle what kind of player he becomes in the next five years. Roseman’s $106 million answer is: an elite one.
What Carter provides, when healthy, is genuinely rare. He is an interior disruptor with first-step quickness that most tackles cannot replicate, the kind of player who can collapse a pocket from the inside before the edge rushers have even registered off the snap, and redirect a ball carrier at the point of attack without needing a double-team. The Eagles built their defensive identity around his presence, and the extension announces to every NFC contender that Philadelphia intends to keep that identity intact. The deal also immediately resets what the top of the defensive tackle market looks like heading into a week when other teams must now update their own negotiations against a new $38 million-per-year benchmark.
Greenard’s absence from practice introduces a different kind of tension. The outside linebacker signed a four-year, $98 million contract with the Eagles this offseason after departing Minnesota, arriving in Philadelphia as the bookend the front office believed the edge rush needed alongside Carter’s interior pressure. Instead, he opened camp on the PUP list with a strained pectoral muscle he sustained while lifting weights before reporting day. He has not yet put on a helmet.
Roseman said the injury “is not a long-term injury,” and Fox Sports reported Greenard should return soon. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio offered a more careful read when asked whether Greenard would practice at any point during camp: “It remains to be seen.” That gap between front-office optimism and coaching-staff caution is the kind of gap that training camp is designed to close but frequently cannot.
The chemistry between a defensive end and an interior lineman is built in camp, across those repetitions where both players learn how their pursuit angles interact and how their individual timing maps onto a coordinated push. A Greenard who misses significant camp time will be figuring out that chemistry against live opponents in September games that count. The contrast with how other teams are managing their most expensive camp situations is instructive: the Eagles resolved their contract question on Day 1, but a separate uncertainty arrived through the training room door before afternoon practice ended.
Fangio’s defense will rely on both Carter and Greenard being right at the same time. Philadelphia’s investment in defensive line salary represents the highest concentration of guaranteed money at that unit in the league, and it rests on the health of two players who, as of Wednesday, shared one available training camp roster spot between them.
On the other side of the ball, the Eagles adjusted quietly over the spring. A.J. Brown’s departure from the receiver room reshuffled the offense around DeVonta Smith, who now functions as the clear primary target in a passing game still built around Jalen Hurts. Hurts participated fully in Wednesday’s session, with coaches expressing confidence in his command under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. First-round rookie receiver Makai Lemon, who dealt with a hamstring issue in the spring, told reporters Wednesday he will be “100 percent” ready for camp work. The backup quarterback competition behind Hurts, per camp observers, remains genuinely open, with Tanner McKee’s hold on the No. 2 spot described as not appearing secure.
Rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt drew attention from coaches and observers during the first practice session. That development carries more weight than it might in a normal camp year, given that Greenard is not available to push him in competitive repetitions.
Philadelphia opened this camp having done what Roseman’s front offices have always done: extend your best players early, control their cost in the years that matter, and set the organizational tone before the first padded drill. The Carter deal is that playbook executed at its highest level, with the largest guarantee in the history of his position attached to it.
What it cannot guarantee is health. Two players owed a combined $250 million are carrying individual question marks into this camp, Carter’s history with his shoulders and Greenard’s strained pectoral muscle, and neither question has a clean answer yet. Whether this defensive line is what Roseman built it to be depends on answers that will not arrive until the weather turns cold.
