MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jordan Davis is starting to get it.
Davis is now several months into his time with the Eagles and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon has recently noticed growth in a very specific area.
“What he's done a good job with is playing multiple spots and changing his technique by the call,” Gannon said on Wednesday, just before the first joint practice against the Dolphins.
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Davis, 22, has been showing off his unmatched size, strength and athleticism all summer. Once he starts to understand the scheme better, he’ll be able to unlock even more layers of his physical traits.
On Wednesday, Davis seemed to agree with his DC’s assessment.
“It’s a learning curve,” he said. “It deals with the classroom and it deals with film and it deals with on the field stuff. To be able to do that, I’m sure as we go along, I’ll get more experience. It’s just experience. I’m young, I’m a rookie.”
NFL
In general, the Eagles’ defensive scheme is going to be more aggressive for Davis than what he played in Georgia. That’s going to take some getting used to.
But a big part of his expected jump in the NFL is going to be Davis’ honing his pass rush skills.
“You have to be passive and aggressive, react, react, attack,” Davis said. “But we don’t read blocks here. We just go. You just have to adjust to the scheme when you go off. At the end of the day, it’s a learning curve, it’s a learning experience and I’m slowly picking it up.”
In his four years at Georgia, Davis had just 7.0 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss. But his job wasn’t to get after the passer; it was to stuff the run. And he didn’t get a ton of opportunities to rush on third down. The Georgia defense was so good everyone had very specific roles and Davis played his exceptionally well. It’s why he was a first-round pick.
But now that he’s in the NFL, Davis is going to be asked to rush the passer more and he’s learning how to do that as a 0-technique, lined up over the center. Rushing inside like that somewhat limits what any player can do.
“You don’t have to worry about extra moves,” he said. “The downside is you have to work your move quicker or you just have to bullrush. At the end of the day, I choose bullrush and I just keep going.”
That bullrush has been impressive throughout camp against his own teammates, the Browns and now the Dolphins in South Florida.
While Davis has been learning from his coaches, he’s also been listening to his veteran teammates like Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave. The one thing he wants to learn from Cox and Hargrave is how to get off the ball as quickly as they do.
It’s all part of his evolution as a pass rusher.
“They’re a lot faster than me on the get-off,” Davis said. “… In situations when I know I have to burn them and go, I just try to work on my get-off and get my hands quick because I’m probably coming from the inside.
“Get my hands quick and re-set the line of scrimmage. They’re very good at doing that. Just re-set the line of scrimmage, that initial pop, knock them back.”
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