The Eagles on Wednesday picked up the fifth-year option for Jordan Davis, which will keep the former first-round defensive tackle in Philadelphia through the 2026 season.
Howie Roseman said it wasn’t a tough decision.
The Eagles’ general manager was on the 94WIP afternoon show Thursday and explained why it was an easy choice for the Eagles to pick up Davis’s option.
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SIGN UP HERE “When you watch Jordan and how he looked the second half of the season,” Roseman said, “and that’s a big part of it. How he looked. He was in great physical condition and shape. He was disruptive during the playoff run.”
After having just one sack during the 2024 regular season, Davis had two sacks in the playoffs. He had one in the NFC Championship Game win over the Commanders and added another sack in Super Bowl LIX against the Chiefs.
This fifth-year option will be worth over $12.9 million for Davis in 2026. That seems like an overpay based on Davis’s production and usage over his first three NFL seasons, but the Eagles are clearly still bullish on their 2022 first-round pick.
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Roseman still views Davis, entering his fourth NFL season at 25 years old, as an ascending NFL player.
“We forget players still develop,” Roseman said to WIP. “When you look at the history of defensive tackles in the National Football League, you see a lot of really successful guys that people forget took until Year 3 or 4 to really hit their stride. And we think he is just hitting his stride.
“This guys is going to play really good football for us here, he is an unbelievable person, worker, leader. I think the sky is the limit for him. I think he feels it and he’s got tremendous confidence and I’m excited for our fans to understand why we thought it was a really easy decision for us to pick up the option.”
The Eagles moved up in the 2022 draft to select Davis with the No. 13 overall pick out of Georgia. He has played 47 games (39 starts) in his three NFL seasons.
It’s a little concerning that Davis was actually less productive and played less in 2024 under Fangio than he did in his second NFL season under Sean Desai (and Matt Patricia) in 2023. But Davis does have a unique role in Fangio’s defense and the lack of usage can be explained a bit by understanding that the Eagles preferred to have Jalen Carter and Milton Williams on the field in known-pass situations last year.
After the departure of Williams in free agency — he signed a four-year, $104 million deal with the Patriots — the Eagles might need Davis to take on a bigger role in the defense in 2025.
It’s also worth noting that while $13 million seems like an overpay for Davis, there are 27 defensive tackles league-wide making that much or more per season. If Davis does indeed improve in 2025 like the Eagles are hoping he does, then the fifth-year option price tag won’t seem so out of place.