July 24, 2025
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
A slimmed-down Jordan Davis is hoping 2025 is the year he emerged into a three-down lineman.
Everything about the typically massive Jordan Davis, from his upright gait as he strolled off the practice field Thursday like he was prancing down a catwalk, to his normally oversized neck and face looked ... slender, slimmer and so much different.
At his press conference, a smiling Davis took delight in the stunned faces of onlookers who were taken aback by his new physique. He jokingly offered to remove his shirt, "so y'all can see it?"
Seeing is truly believing for the Eagles' fourth-year defensive tackle, who's hoping a size decrease better equips him for a playing time increase, and to finally fulfill his potential as a first-round pick.
Davis, who said he's down 26 pounds, reported to camp at 330 pounds. And he, like his coaches, are waiting to see if the newer, more svelte version of the hulking, 6-foot-6 former Georgia Bulldog really does translate into Davis becoming a three-down lineman.
With previous starter Milton Williams bolting for New England in free agency, Davis has an opportunity to carve out more playing time as an interior pass rusher in the team's four-man front – the main pass-rush line and, frankly, the defensive front that gets more attention than the five-man run front for which Davis plays nose tackle.
Davis will have to compete mainly with third-year pro Moro Ojomo and rookie Ty Robinson for snaps in the pass rush, and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has opened the door for Davis to assume a bigger role there, but Davis must first prove that he can excel in an expanded role outside base defense against the run.
"I don't ever want to be, you know, like too light in a sense, but the weight they gave me [to be] I feel like I'm completely capable at for playing both the anchor [in run defense] and being a pass rusher," Davis said. "I just want to be – like they say at quarterback – I want to be a dual threat. I don't want to be a one-trick pony."
Davis' comments should be music to the organization's ears as it exercised the fifth-year option on the 2022 first-round pick this past offseason despite Davis not playing more than 45 percent of defensive snaps in any of his first three years, and just 37 percent last season.
He averaged about 23 snaps per game in the regular season last year but witnessed a steep drop to about 14 snaps per game in the postseason all the way to the Super Bowl. For most of his career, struggles with weight, conditioning, and technique has relegated Davis to a run-stopper role who'd get subbed out for the key pass-rush downs.
Still, Fangio has said that Davis' pass rush improved in his limited snaps last year, especially in the latter part of the season, and has used Davis' two postseason sacks last year, in the NFC Championship and Super Bowl, for examples.
By exercising Davis' fifth-year option, the Eagles are on the hook for just under $13 million for Davis in 2026, a very reasonable number for an interior defensive lineman, but also a questionable future decision if Davis can't evolve into something more potent that a big body who can absorb double teams and plug run lanes on a dozen or so snaps.
"I do want to be on the field as much as I can," Davis insisted, "and whatever is required and whatever is needed of me I want to be on the field. I don't want to be a player that comes off the field every second-and-long, every third down, being a one-trick pony. Being a run stopper, an anchor, that's cool and all, but I want to do more."
Davis said he can already feel the benefits of his lighter frame, both on and off the field – more energy, more focus, better conditioning on those sweltering days of camp like Thursday and what's expected Friday and into the weekend, and less overall wear-down.
But the pads haven't yet come out, and Davis has shed pounds before in an attempt to be more well-rounded. He remains a work in progress with his leverage, technique and hand usage.
He turned 25 in January, in the midst of the Eagles' run to a Super Bowl title, and said there was something about reaching that milestone age that changed within him, made the light come on about his health and diet.
"Honestly I'm glad y'all see the progress," he said, "and obviously Rome isn't built in a day. This has been a long time coming, not even just for football, but just for life.
"I'm getting older. When I hit 25 everything just kind of clicked like that. When I turned 25, [I] just realized it was necessary to make a change – not only for me, not only for the Eagles and the team and stuff like that, but just for life. It's just what i had to do."
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