There was much anticipation for Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis’ rookie campaign. Davis bolstered his draft stock during Georgia’s College Football Playoff-winning run last year, and he was a standout performer in Philadelphia’s preseason schedule.
Davis wound up playing in 13 regular season games for the reigning NFC champions, where he recorded 18 tackles and a mere one quarterback pressure. He took part in 224 snaps on defense in regular season play, which ranked seventh among all defensive linemen on the team.
Davis did not factor much into now-former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s game plan in the playoffs. For one, he featured in more snaps on special teams (12) than on defense (10) in the Eagles’ Super Bowl 57 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.
During his end-of-season press conference on Thursday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni took some time to evaluate Davis’ rookie year. He noted that the lack of playing time for Davis was simply due to the team having a “deep defensive line group.”
“This year was unique,” Sirianni said. “But I think to me, at least, on that defensive line group, maybe not so much for Jordan because Jordan played at Georgia where they got a deep defensive line group. We have a deep defensive line group. And even the conversations I’ve had with [DT] Milton [Williams] and [DT] Marlon [Tuipulotu], they played a little less than probably what people may think they should have in the sense of we had a lot of different guys playing on that and giving really good reps.
“And so that was a unique year. We understand that not every year can be like that and that roles will change. And that’s just not on the defensive line, that’s through everybody.”
In the big picture, Sirianni sees much potential in the Eagles' 2022 first-round pick.
“And we have so much confidence in Jordan that he’s going to continue to develop as a player,” Sirianni said. “He’s going to take the reps — he’s only going to continue to get better with the reps that he has. He has unusual traits. His unusual size, unusual athletic ability, unusual play strength.
“And looking forward to him being able to get more and more reps.”
The Eagles could soon see plenty of change with their defensive line group, especially as the likes of Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox will hit free agency next month.
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