Tougher Decision Is Coming With Eagles' DT

The Eagles have picked up their $12.9 million fifth-year option on defensive tackle Jordan Davis for the 2026 season, something Howie Roseman foreshadowed was coming with a May 1 deadline looming.

"For us, every contract situation we'll talk with the players first. We have tremendous confidence and faith in Jordan Davis," was the GM's non-confirmation confirmation on what was coming after the 2025 NFL Draft wrapped up last week.

The fifth-year option for Davis was not a difficult decision for the Eagles.

The more substantial question is: What is the true worth of a top-tier, two-down player, who topped out at 45% of the team's defensive snaps in the 2023 season?

Last season, Davis' first under Vic Fangio, the big man regressed to 37% of the defensive snaps in the regular season, and that dipped even further to 21% in the postseason run to a Super Bowl LIX championship.

The problems come with the expectations of being the 13th overall pick in the 2022 draft, an asset that generally isn't going to be used on a so-called "two-down player."

The esoteric nature of Davis' job description under Fangio and his two predecessors, who were running a Fangio-like template (Jonathan Gannon in 2022 and Sean Desai in 2023), is based on turning first-and-10 into second-and-long.

Ironically, if Davis does his job and keeps blockers off Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun, he's often off the field for a nickel look with a four-man front.

There is often a misconception with Fangio's defensive schemes because it's a layered approach up front in regard to stopping the run. If the veteran defensive coordinator is concerned with his run defense or if his charges are ineffective, Fangio will use more five-man fronts. When the DC is really concerned, like Week 3 last season at New Orleans, the Eagles' DC might even roll out six-man fronts.

However, what Fangio, and quite frankly any DC in the NFL, wants is to be able to stop the run with as light a box as possible so you have extra manpower in coverage. As the 2024-25 season progressed, the Eagles became very adept at stopping the run with four-man fronts, which meant less playing time for Davis.

The simplistic notion that Fangio used fewer five-man fronts than expected last season and that will carry over is a specious one.

Fangio has been around long enough to know that success with fewer bodies is not necessarily going to translate from week to week, never mind season to season, so the veteran DC is always going to want a true nose tackle on hand to cover all the bases and be able to use multiple fronts when needed.

The Eagles currently have no obvious backup for Davis on the offseason roster and haven't carried two nose tackles since he was injured as a rookie, and veteran Linval Joseph arrived as an in-season addition for the run to Super Bowl LVII after the 2022 season.

Pre-Davis, many observers didn't even realize that Gannon was running a version of Fangio's defense because he didn't have a true NT to use as many odd fronts as he would have liked.

The same would be true this season if Davis missed any time.

The butterfly effect for that would force Fangio to lean heavily on four-man fronts, and use players like Thomas Booker, Moro Ojomo, or perhaps rookie Ty Robinson out of position for the rare snap at NT if the DC needed that look. For Gannon in 2021, that player was pass-rusher Javon Hargrave.

The larger point is that Davis is more important than most realize, so the question for the Eagles becomes how valuable?

Some default to the idea that Davis needs to improve on the pass rush, which is somewhat inconsequential to the playing-time narrative.

While it would be nice if Davis provided a more consistent inside push, and that started to come last season in the playoffs when he sacked Jayden Daniels and Patrick Mahomes, the idea of wanting Davis on the field for obvious passing situations is counterproductive.

Last season, that would have meant taking either Jalen Carter or Milton Williams off the field. This season, it might be Carter and/or Moro Ojomo, or rookie Ty Robinson, two natural interior pass-rushers. Perhaps, even a new look Joker-like role for Jihaad Campbell if the first-round pick is up to speed for a hybrid role.

In the end, it's fair to say the Eagles should have had a better handle on what the expectations of No. 13 overall meant. More so, if the evaluation of Davis was that he could be of greater impact than a Williams-like player on the pass rush, that's just a poor projection.

Moving forward, the equation in front of the Eagle now is how much a premium, two-down run stuffer is worth in an escalating salary-cap world where Carter is likely getting $35M or more on his upcoming extension.

A $12.9M number in 2026 is more than palatable, other than the Eagles would prefer to lower that number from a cap standpoint. The really difficult conversations for the Eagles with Davis are 2027 and beyond, and what an extension might look like.