'Best guess' for how NFL will punish Eagles' Jalen Carter for spitting incident revealed

Shortly after Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter was ejected from Thursday's regular-season opener against the Dallas Cowboys for spitting on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, a report shared that the NFL could suspend Carter for additional contests if he was "anything other than fully contrite" after the game. 

Carter subsequently apologized for his actions. On Friday, NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk revealed his "best guess" for how the league will punish Carter beyond Thursday's ejection. 

Will Jalen Carter be suspended for spitting on Dak Prescott?

"The precedent doesn’t support a suspension," Florio wrote about how the league previously handled similar incidents. "...And so the right punishment — and the one that could hold up on appeal — would be a fine in the amount of a game check. Carter has a base salary of $1.03M in 2025. That works out to $57,222 per week. Thus, a fine of $57,222 seems to be fair and appropriate, given the precedent the league has established in similar cases."

Per Stephen Douglas of Sports Illustrated, NFL Media's Tom Pelissero noted during Friday's edition of NFL Network's "Good Morning Football" program that Carter essentially served a one-game suspension by missing every snap of Philadelphia's 24-20 win over Dallas. 

"Generally, if you're going back historically, the NFL, in terms of additional discipline, has handled spitting incidents with fines, not suspensions," Pelissero added during his report. 

Will Dak Prescott be punished for initial spit?

On Thursday night, social-media users pointed out that a video showed that Prescott initially spat on the ground in Carter's direction before the defensive tackle committed his infraction. This, understandably, led some to wonder if Prescott could also be in danger of hearing from the league office at some point next week. 

"There is no rule against spitting in the general direction of someone from a significant distance," Pelissero said about why he does "not anticipate" Prescott will be fined or suspended by the league.

In short, it sounds as if the Eagles will have Carter in the lineup for their Week 2 matchup at the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 14. The Chiefs open their campaign with a Friday night game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil.