Jordan Davis has a rich new contract. Is his next stop 'all-time Eagles great'?
The Eagles didn't give Davis a $78 million deal as a reward. The nose guard knows he's an integral part of the team's defensive future.
Jordan Davis hit it on the nose — nose guards, he says, are typically overlooked by the casual fan.
He calls the position he has played since his high school days at Mallard Creek in Charlotte, N.C., “muddy.” In the middle of the trenches of Vic Fangio’s defense, Davis is required to do the dirty work to help his teammates beside and behind him make plays. He takes on double teams in the running game (and sometimes the passing game), with a combined 650 and 700 pounds of offensive linemen pushing on him.
The job isn’t glamorous. It’s often selfless. But it’s evidently lucrative, especially for a player with Davis’ potential.
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The Eagles certainly aren’t overlooking Davis’ value up front. They showed him as much on Saturday, when they agreed to a three-year, $78 million extension with the 26-year-old defensive lineman, keeping him under contract through 2029.
At his celebratory news conference Wednesday at the Jefferson Health Training Complex, Davis said he hadn’t taken much time to reflect on how far he had come since the Eagles drafted him with the No. 13 overall pick in 2022. He did, however, express a sense of fulfillment in bringing respect to his position with his new deal.
“To be able to lead the way and pave the way for a different kind of attention on this position, I think that’s the biggest pride that I have playing this position,” Davis said. “I always came in saying, ‘Two on me, somebody’s free,’ and that’s the way it’s always going to be. That’s the mantra of a nose guard, to be real. For your performance to affect the people behind you, the people beside you.”
Davis dropped that same line — “Two on me, somebody’s free” — at his introductory news conference in 2022. While the mantra that guides him at the position remains the same, Davis is a much-evolved player since his rookie season.
First, there’s the physical aspect. In the middle of the 2024 season, Davis made a change. He got on a new training regimen (including late-night Peloton sessions) and improved his diet. Not only did his enhanced conditioning keep him on the field more often in 2025 (a career-best 61% of the snaps in 2025), but it also gave him a sense of newfound confidence.
“I was confident in my abilities,” Davis said. “I was confident in my game. I was confident in my conditioning to go out there and execute and to be the player and the caliber of player that I know I am.”
That confidence translated off the field, too. Davis stepped into a leadership role last season, following a similar path taken earlier by 14-year veteran Brandon Graham.
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Both players faced early skepticism in Philadelphia as they struggled to live up to their draft pedigree. Graham, a future Eagles Hall of Fame defensive end, defied the expectations of his detractors. Davis still has a long career ahead of him, but in many ways, he’s doing the same.
When Davis thinks of his eventual legacy in the NFL, he remembers the way Graham helped him through his rocky days. Davis said he wants to do the same for his teammates.
“The time in the league is very finite,” Davis said. “We’re not here forever. Who knows when our last snap is called? And to be able to go through this, to gather this experience, and then eventually pass it on to somebody else, for the next person to lead, and for the next person to lead the lessons that you gave him, I think that’s real legacy in the league.”
With the extension, Davis now has more time to cement his legacy as a member of the Eagles. But the organization didn’t extend him as a pat on the back for his past performance as a run-stuffing, double-team-eating nose guard. It’s paying for the player it thinks he can become over these next four years, and his $26 million average annual value beginning in 2027 reflects as much, too.
Going into the draft, Davis’ calling card was his play against the run, not so much his pass-rush prowess. By trading up to select him at No. 13, the Eagles showed they thought he could add that element to his game.
In some ways, Davis has improved as a pass rusher. He notched a career-best 4½ sacks on a career-high 355 pass-rush snaps in 2025, according to Next Gen Stats.
But can he continue to elevate his game in a defense that lacked a consistent pass rush last season? His 6.2% pressure rate was the second best of his career in 2025, but it still ranked in the bottom half among qualified defensive tackles. Davis said he that has room to improve in all areas of his game, not just his pass-rush ability.
“I know everybody puts the bell on me for anchoring and stopping the run, but I feel like you can always improve in all phases of this game,” Davis said. “And if you can’t, then you’re not really thinking big. I have so much room to improve. I have so much to grow as a player. I just want to be great by the time it’s done, when it’s all over and done with.
“I want to be able to lead. I want to be able to leave my legacy. I want to be able to just be satisfied with the player that I am.”
The Eagles are banking on his growth. If Davis can continue to take strides, he won’t be overlooked by anyone.