When asked what it’s like re-watching Jordan Davis plays in the film room, at first Milton Williams didn’t even say anything.
He just shot a look, head tilted, eyes wide.
“Man, you see him,” Williams said. “That dude … Big, strong and fast.”
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And now Davis is starting to figure out this whole NFL thing too.
The No. 13 overall pick out of Georgia has started the Eagles’ last three games and had the best game of his young career on Sunday in Arizona.
Against the Cardinals, Davis played a career-high 29 snaps, had three solo tackles and affected the game in so many ways that will just never show up on the stat sheet. His evolution to become a game-changing player at the professional level is well underway.
“I just think he's getting a little bit better each week,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “He's a big man who has to continue to learn how to play in the NFL against other big men. So, he's getting better each week. He's doing a good job. He had his best game to date last game, and again he's just in that mindset, the growth mindset of how he gets better every day.”
NFL
There’s no question Davis has been getting better.
But what’s the biggest difference between Davis going into Week 6 vs. Davis going into Week 1?
“Confidence,” Davis answered immediately. “Confidence level. That’s the same thing that I’ve been talking about and harping on really. I’m able to go out there and do what I can.
“I’m here for a reason. Go out there and do the same thing every weekend. Get better as I go along. It gets you a little more confidence going into the next one.”
The more his confidence grows, the better Davis plays. The better he plays, the more his confidence grows.
The arrow is pointing up.
Earlier this season, Davis spoke to NBC Sports Philadelphia about imposter syndrome and how he works to overcome that.
But it seems like he just really has to prove it to himself. And there’s no question that Davis has been doing that over the last few weeks. The Eagles will need a big game from Davis on Sunday night, when they host the Dallas Cowboys and an offense that wants to be dominant in the run game.
It’s obvious that Davis has power. And it’s his power that is the cornerstone of everything his does … as it should be.
But it’s the other elements of his game that give him the potential to be really special. Jason Kelce explained it as only he can.
“They wanted him to be across the ball, physical at the point of attack, especially with your head up on the center,” Kelce said. “They wanted him to get into the center and create that knock back. Then he got really good at that. When you know it’s coming, you can do some things to at least try to stop it. But now you’re starting to see some other moves that he’s doing.
“He’s been able to start hitting an edge with a power rip, he’s gotten more moves into the arsenal so you can’t just hunker down on one thing. In this league, most guys are too good if you can only do one thing. If all you have is a power bullrush, most centers in the league are going to be able to counteract that with technique, leverage and hand placement. But if if the center trying to hunker down against bullrush and leaning and whatnot and all of a sudden you’re hitting an edge and you’re athletic enough to do that with quickness. That’s when it gets really hard to stop a guy.”
A big storyline about Davis since he was drafted has been about his conditioning level and how many snaps he’d be able to handle in each game. But Davis has been taking that seriously too. He’s part of the group of defensive linemen who work after practice on conditioning. The goal is to be able to go as hard as they can for their allotment of snaps and then rotate out.
Davis is still just 22 and we’re already starting to see all the reasons why he was called a “unicorn” in this year’s draft.
“He's got the strength, he’s got the athleticism, he’s got the size to be really good,” Sirianni said. “It's just him learning.”
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