Jordan Davis is one of the biggest reasons the Eagles’ defensive front looks the way it does heading into 2026.
He didn’t just flash in 2025 - he finally put it all together. The former first-round pick broke out in his fourth season, then cashed in with a three-year, $78 million extension in March. That deal came after a year in which Davis started all 17 games and posted career highs across the board: 72 tackles, 4 1/2 sacks, nine tackles for loss, six quarterback hits and six batted passes.
A big part of that jump came from the work Davis put in on his body. He started getting in better shape during the 2024 season and carried that into 2025, when he became more than just a space-eating run defender. He was still doing the dirty work inside, but he also showed he could affect the game in more ways.
After landing the extension, Davis reflected on the path that got him there.
“That's something that I don't really stop to think about because you're still in the midst of it all,” Davis said. “Fletch (former Eagles DT Fletcher Cox) told me that they are keeping you for not what you've done, but for what you can do, what you are expected to do.
“Although I do have times or a moment of reflection, those times are very short. I know that it's more work at hand to do.
You can never be comfortable. You can't be comfortable, not in this league, not in this world.
You always have to be striving for something greater. And that's where I'm at right now.”
The added conditioning also let Davis handle a career-high 686 snaps, which worked out to 61% of the defense’s plays in 2025. He still wasn’t on the field a ton for third downs, with Jalen Carter and Moro Ojomo handling plenty of the interior pass-rush work, but Davis remained a major part of Vic Fangio’s defense. He also gave Michael Clay’s special teams units 141 snaps.
There were a couple of signature moments mixed into that season, too. Davis earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors in Week 3 against the Rams after sealing the game with a blocked field goal that he scooped and scored. Later, in November against the Lions, he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week after knocking down three passes.
Davis, 26, wasn’t a captain in 2025, but he could be wearing a C this season, especially after Reed Blankenship left in free agency. Even if that doesn’t happen, he’s still the kind of voice and presence this team leans on.
What makes Davis especially valuable is that he takes real pride in the role that doesn’t always get the spotlight. He’s happy to be more than the stat line, and he knows exactly what a true nose guard can do for a defense.
“A big passion of mine is just being a premier nose guard,” Davis said. “And I know that's a position that's overlooked a lot of times from the casual fan.
Not a lot of people know the importance of a true nose tackle, especially when we have the ability in our system to flip from a 3 -4 to 4 -3. Nose guard is a position that doesn't really get accolades or get a lot of premium for it because it's a muddy position sometimes.
You're going to get two hands on you in a run, sometimes in the pass.
“So to be able to go out here and to prove to kids and to show people that nose guards aren't meant to be overlooked. We have a true place in defenses.
I think that's one thing that makes me really proud to be a nose guard. Technically I'm a DT/nose guard, but I've been doing it since college.
I've been doing it since high school if we’re being real. So to be able to lead the way and pave away for a different kind of attention on this position, I think that's the biggest pride that I have.
Playing this position, 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.”
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