Jordan Davis has ascended into an every-down role for the Eagles: ‘He’s not living in a box anymore’

On Sunday afternoon as he watched the Eagles and Los Angeles Rams game from the sideline, Nakobe Dean saw a Georgia Bulldog pup in Jordan Davis as he chased Matthew Stafford out of bounds for a sack.

The play brought Dean back to Athens, Ga., in 2021 for Georgia’s blowout win over Alabama-Birmingham. On second-and-8 in the first quarter, the 6-foot-6, 340-pound Davis shed his block, changed direction, and sprinted after the scrambling quarterback, tackling him at the first-down marker to prevent a longer run.

Perimeter tackles weren’t new for Davis in college, and they aren’t in the NFL, either. Before Davis dropped 26 pounds to reach 330 in the offseason, the defensive tackle made a similar play in 2023 when the Eagles defeated the Buffalo Bills in overtime against the spry Josh Allen.

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So Dean wasn’t buying the razzle-dazzle of the new-look defensive tackle overtaking a 37-year-old, statuesque quarterback — Dean said he knew that as soon as Davis took off he was going to make the play on Stafford.

“He better had chased Matthew Stafford down,” Dean said. “When he got in the league, we was still peeing in the bed.”

Davis isn’t a kid any more. At age 25, he is the oldest member of the Eagles’ defensive line and its most productive. Through the first three games of the season, Davis has racked up a sack, 16 tackles (including two for loss), three pass breakups, and the game-sealing field-goal block on Rams kicker Joshua Karty that he returned 61 yards for a touchdown.

That play won the Eagles the game, but it was a fleeting moment to Davis. He said after the win that he doesn’t want to be “a flash-play player.” The goal, he said, is to be an “every-down guy,” the role the Eagles envisioned when they traded up to draft him 13th overall in 2022. That expectation intensified when Howie Roseman picked up the fifth-year option on Davis’ rookie contract in April, keeping him in the fold for at least two more seasons.

He’s on his way to becoming that player. The details indicative of Davis’ evolution — beyond the chase-downs and the field-goal blocks — are in the snap counts. Davis has played 70% of the defensive snaps in 2025, a 25% increase over his previous high in 2023 and a 33% increase from 2024. Plus, he’s been on the field for a career-high 39% of the special-teams snaps.

As Davis says, Rome wasn’t built in a day. His transformation has been almost a year in the making, and the Eagles haven’t seen Rome just yet.

“Even when you feel like you’re there, you have to keep going,” Davis said. “I think that’s the point I’m at, it’s just keep going, just keep going, just keep going.”

A conference call in mid-October last year marked the beginning of a new direction for Davis, according to JT Alphabet, his trainer at Adapt Athlete in Atlanta.

After the Week 5 bye week last season, Davis’ snaps started to dwindle. He averaged 32½ defensive snaps per game (49.8%) through the first four contests on a shaky defense that was still seeking its identity under Vic Fangio, then averaged 19 snaps per game (33.5%) in the four games that followed. Clint Hurtt, the Eagles’ defensive line coach, said during training camp that back in October, Davis wanted to “play more and contribute more.”

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That aspiration required change, not just physically, but also in terms of his maturity. Hurtt would emphasize to Davis that the defensive tackle — still a “freak” athlete at his heavier size — was a football player, not a body builder. To stay on the field for entire 10-play drives, Davis needed to be in the right shape fueled by a proper diet. Hurtt, a former defensive tackle at Miami in the late 1990s, was uniquely qualified to deliver that message.

“I’m a big man myself, so I can kind of speak in this world, that we can gain weight looking at food,” Hurtt said. “So the whole thing is, ‘OK, what are we going to do extra to get ourselves in prime position or prime condition?’”

Alphabet said he always knew that Davis possessed rare athleticism for his size since they began working together after the Eagles drafted him. But on that call with his trainer, his mother, and his agent, Davis made it clear that he was ready to get “locked into the process” and become a consistent, impactful player, Alphabet said.

“He was ready for more,” Alphabet said. “He made it clear that he wanted more work, more accountability, more ways to push himself.”

More work meant more work now, not next offseason. Alphabet began to fly from Atlanta to Philadelphia on Davis’ Tuesday off days. He would arrive at Davis’ house by 9 a.m., have breakfast, then put him through a mobility session.

Around 11:30 a.m., Alphabet and Davis went to a nearby football field, where the defensive tackle would run through conditioning drills. One day around Halloween, a bunch of kids came up to them after their football practice. Davis and Alphabet handed out candy, but the defensive tackle didn’t save any for himself. He’s cut out sugar completely, Alphabet said.

“That takes discipline,” Alphabet said. “It shows in his mentality, and he’s serious about his body, his performance, and that’s what it takes to perform at the highest level.”

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Davis also got hooked on Peloton. On the off days that Alphabet didn’t fly to Philly, Davis would hold himself accountable and hop on the spin bike in lieu of an on-field conditioning session. Even after practices had concluded, Davis would take a spin class.

Hurtt began to see the fruits of Davis’ efforts in the last five or six games of the regular season and into the playoffs as he generated more pressure on opposing quarterbacks and made plays outside the tackle box. The defensive line coach long believed that Davis was capable of becoming an every-down player, but the fun-loving defensive tackle is harder on himself than most people realize, Hurtt said.

So even when things weren’t going Davis’ way last season, Hurtt made sure to express confidence in him. Yes, he was critical of Davis at times, too, especially earlier in the year as they went over corrections and dissected why he wasn’t making plays. But he never put Davis in a box because he didn’t want Davis to put himself in a box and limit his own potential.

It wasn’t easy for Davis to earn playing time, even as he started to round into shape, because of Milton Williams’ rapid ascent as a pass rusher alongside Jalen Carter. In the first half of the NFC championship game against the Washington Commanders, Hurtt could tell by the look on Davis’ face that his mere seven defensive snaps bothered him. Hurtt pulled Davis aside and gave him a reminder.

“I said, ‘Listen, I’m never giving up on you,’” Hurtt said. “I said, ‘We’re going to need you. I’m going to need you. You got to stay in this. Stay locked in, and you’re going to make a big play that’s going to turn the game.’”

Sure enough, Davis sacked Jayden Daniels on the second play of the Commanders’ first possession of the second half, helping the Eagles maintain their lead as they secured their spot in the Super Bowl. Hurtt used that moment to reinforce his belief in the player that Davis was well on his way to becoming.

“Just loved him up and celebrated him in that moment,” Hurtt said. “Like, ‘That’s exactly what I’m talking about. This is what you’re capable of all the time.’”

After his game-sealing field goal block against the Rams, Davis reached a top speed of 18.59 mph during his touchdown return, according to Next Gen Stats. It was the fastest speed recorded by a player over 330 pounds on any play since at least 2017.

Davis remarked postgame that he hadn’t run that fast since his combine, when he ran a 4.78 40-yard dash. After all, most defensive linemen aren’t running downfield in an all-out sprint. Rather, their 10-yard split is a more important measurement of their speed, according to Alphabet. It’s imperative that defensive lineman are able to get out of their stances quickly and close space.

In the offseason, when he could take on a bigger workload, Davis alternated his workouts between strength days and speed days. Among his exercises on speed days, Davis would run 20-yard sprints, focusing on those first 10 yards.

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He would wear a GPS tracking system to measure his acceleration and his top speed. Alphabet said Davis worked his way down to his 10-yard split when he was training for the 40-yard dash over three years ago.

“That’s what really improved this offseason, and that’s why I feel like his get-off has also gotten better,” Alphabet said. “Seeing it translate to Sundays is beautiful.”

That get-off is partially why Davis is rounding into form as a pass rusher. According to Hurtt, Davis has always been explosive out of his stance, which has aided him defending the run and being able to “mirror step” the offensive line (mirroring an offensive lineman’s footwork).

But now that he’s taking on an every-down role, Davis is “reprogramming” the tools that once exclusively served him as a run-stopper, Hurtt said. That pass-rush development still is a work in progress. The next step for Davis, Hurtt says, is helping him learn how to use his long arms to his advantage, especially to swipe away offensive linemen who use aggressive sets at the line of scrimmage because of his size.

Becoming an every-down player isn’t just about the conditioning and the physical skill set. Hurtt said he can detect a player’s growth based on the questions they ask. Lately, Davis is asking more questions about the pass-rush opportunities in their weekly prep instead of focusing on the handful of runs he expected to see.

“He’s becoming more of a well-rounded player because he’s seeing the full game, as opposed to just what pertained to him by what he thought he was only,” Hurtt said. “He’s not living in a box anymore, so to speak.”

Moro Ojomo, his teammate on the defensive line, has also noticed a more inquisitive Davis in meetings as it relates to different tips from the offense that indicate run or pass.

“I think that he’s comfortable asking questions,” Ojomo said. “If he wants to see something, he’ll speak up about it. Like, ‘Hey, can we go over that?’ Or, ‘Can I see that picture again?’ Or, ‘Can I see that play again?’ I think that’s ultimately confidence. That’s allowed him to, if he doesn’t feel great about something, he sees it again, and that gives him a lot more confidence.”

That confidence is showing up on game day in the form of consistency. Hurtt asserted that Davis should have three sacks through the first three games. He nearly brought down Dak Prescott in the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. His sack of Patrick Mahomes against the Kansas City Chiefs was negated because of offsetting penalties.

Another challenge awaits this weekend in Tampa, Fla., and it’s not just the scrambling Baker Mayfield. The heat will serve as the ultimate conditioning test for every player, Davis included. The AccuWeather-projected “Real Feel” temperature of nearly 100 degrees hearkens back to the dog days of training camp at the NovaCare Complex.

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Nick Sirianni strung together long, 15-to-20-play drives in the heat at practice to help his players get in football shape and prepare for games like Sunday’s. Seven plays into the Eagles’ first long drive period of training camp, Hurtt recalled Davis standing up, legs together, with his hands on his hips.

“I’m like, ‘OK, the big fella’s struggling,’” Hurtt said.

But Davis built up his stamina on those drives. The next day, he could go for 10 plays. The following day, he got up to 13. In that heat, Davis grew accustomed to staying on the field for prolonged periods, something that hadn’t been required of him earlier in his career.

“As much as I hate [Sirianni] during the moment, they add up,” Davis said of those long training camp drives. “Those pay dividends. When you’re playing in camp and it’s like 16-, 18-play drives, and you’re just sitting there dog tired, and you’re like, ‘Holy moly,’ and then you have a drive where it’s like nine plays or eight plays in a game, you’re like, ‘Man, this is nothing. We’ve been through this before.’”

In many ways, the last year for Davis has been characterized by change. He has an increased role on the field amid increased expectations from the front office. He transformed his body. He doesn’t spend much time dining in the cafeteria anymore, much to the chagrin of Dean, who misses their shared meals.

But Davis is still the same person on the inside, according to Jordan Mailata. He’s always cracking jokes. Za’Darius Smith called Davis a “comedian” who knows how to make everyone in the room laugh. Davis keeps it light, but he knows when to turn it off and lock in, Mailata said.

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Even his position coach agrees. Davis is a “teddy bear” with “joyful energy,” Hurtt said. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t take his job seriously, evidenced by his on-field growth. In fact, Hurtt asserted that Davis won’t revert to his previous ways because he knows how much this opportunity means to him and how much work he’s put into becoming the best version of himself.

“Great teammate, great human being, and the sky’s the limit,” Hurtt said. “I know everybody talked about potential forever. Now we’re scratching at it.”