Demario Davis is still playing like a linebacker who belongs near the top of the league, but ESPN’s latest rankings didn’t treat him that way.
The Jets veteran landed in the honorable mention group in ESPN’s off-ball linebacker rankings, which were built from surveys of more than 70 NFL executives, scouts and coaches. That left Davis outside the top 10 even after another productive season and despite the kind of steady excellence that has defined his career.
One NFC executive summed him up this way to Fowler: “Fine wine,”
Davis is heading into his age-37 season and his 15th NFL year, yet the Jets still rewarded him with a two-year, $22 million contract after his 2025 performance. That production made the omission hard to ignore. He piled up 143 total tackles, forced two fumbles and logged 55 stops last season.
Those numbers put him seventh among linebackers in stops and 10th in total tackles. Pro Football Focus also ranked him sixth among 88 qualifying linebackers with an 81.4 overall grade.
The case for Davis goes beyond the stat sheet, too. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn called him “one of the best leaders he’s ever been around.”
Even with the snub, Davis remains central to what the Jets want to do at linebacker. He’s expected to wear the team’s green dot, a job that would lighten the load on Jamien Sherwood and let the 26-year-old play more freely after a down year.
Sherwood handled that responsibility well in 2024, when veteran C.J. Mosley served as the Jets’ green-dot linebacker.
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