He lost a battle for a starting spot but won something else.

Michael Carter acquitted himself awfully well this summer in his competition with Marcus Epps for a starting safety job. Not well enough to beat out Epps but well enough to earn himself meaningful playing time.

Most guys who lose these competitions wither away on the bench. Carter will have a significant role on this defense.

“That’s huge,” said Carter, who elected in March to sign a reworked contract with the Eagles instead of hitting free agency. “I feel like that’s what spring was for, what training camp was for, just to figure out where I could fit in and build that trust. 

“There was no guarantee coming back (to the Eagles). I worked hard and built that trust with the coaches as well as my teammateswell. I was confident that if I didn’t (win a starting job) I’d still be able to contribute in a meaningful way. And so that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.”

Carter, in his sixth year out of Duke, was a trade-deadline acquisition last year in a deal that sent receiver John Metchie to the Jets. He played 106 defensive snaps and 65 on special teams in eight games with the Eagles. 

The renegotiation lowered his cap figure from $10.1 million from his huge contract with the Jets down to a manageable $1.42 million.

Carter has spent his career as a nickel corner, but with Cooper DeJean around there was no competition there. So he began learning safety, which overlaps with the slot but is a very different position.

It seemed all along that Epps would win the starting job, especially when Epps didn’t dress for any of the preseason games and Carter played 57 snaps. But instead of sulking, Carter used those 57 snaps to prove to Vic Fangio and the other coaches that he deserved to play.

“It was good,” he said. “I feel like just getting those reps, I feel like the preseason games were really good for me. It was a good opportunity to just get a feel for the game and the speed of everything. 

“I didn’t feel like any type of way as far as like playing those games. I knew it was just a good way to learn, a good way to grow and get better at a new position. So I really felt like I improved every day, week to week and everything like that. That’s all you can do, just get 1 percent better every day, and I thought playing in those games helped me do that.”

Carter can play safety, nickel and dime and in an emergency could play outside corner as well.

“The more you can do is always good for you,” Carter said at his locker after practice Thursday.

And Fangio said he won’t hesitate to play Carter in any of those roles depending on the situation.

“(Epps) was just solid the whole way through, but we still like Michael, and we have the ability to play him some there too. Michael’s very versatile, can play nickel, can play dime, can play safety, and we plan on using him.”

What that will look like remains to be seen. There may be games Carter plays a lot and other games where he’s just on special teams with a defensive snap here and there.

But right now he’s just happy to be part of a secondary loaded with talent and potential.

“It’s great, man,” he said. “It’s great and I feel like we can just kind of build off each other, pick each other up, and really do something special. We’ve got a lot of special guys, a lot of guys that have accomplished a lot of things already in the league.

“So we’re super talented. And we’ve just got to be in our details, be disciplined, keep our trust and faith in one another and pick each other up. We can really do some special things.”