Before we truly get into the depths of the off-season, it’s time to review the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2022 NFL Draft class. I won’t review anyone unless they played enough snaps (so this will be a very short series!), and I did break down each pick’s college film, so I will use that as the basis for breaking down their film. First up is Jordan Davis. Here is my college review of Jordan Davis. I am going to summarize what I said about Jordan Davis last year and decide whether he outperformed expectations or underwhelmed, as well as some general thoughts about him, and what to expect from him moving forward.

Stats

Nothing too shocking from the Pro Football Focus numbers. There’s nothing too elite, but I wouldn’t worry too much about the run defense numbers in particular. Nose tackles are never going to have fantastic numbers and Davis probably won’t see a statistical uptick until he starts playing in more 4-man fronts and getting some more pass-rushing opportunities.

Strengths

This is what I said were Jordan Davis’ strengths from the college film review. Underneath each strength, I have highlighted a play or two from this year that showcase his ability to still do this at the next level. I will do the same for the weaknesses.

+ Impressive lateral movement and range for a big DT, can shut down outside runs. He is a big-time run defender.

+ Quick feet, moves like a man a lot lighter. The athleticism is out of this world for someone his size.

+ Simply enormous frame and strong anchor.

+ Has real power and will drive linemen back into the quarterback, especially in the rare instance he is not double-teamed.

+ Can ‘stack and shed’ offensive linemen and make them look silly at times. Can throw offensive lineman out of his way with insane strength

+ Does he ever miss a tackle? When he gets his hands on you, it seems to be over.

+ Has an absurd ability to shoot through gaps when not asked to 2gap considering his size.

Weaknesses

Jordan Davis was a fantastic player in college, but he absolutely had some weaknesses that we all knew about.

- His biggest weakness is conditioning and whether he can handle more snaps. We all know by now he only played 38% of the snaps last season and we obviously need him to play more.

He only played 364 snaps in 16 games this year (an average of 23 a game) and he didn’t look good down the stretch last year, was this injury related, or is this the impact of a long season having an impact?

- Limited pass rush moves, didn’t get the chance to see him ignore responsibilities and get after the quarterback on 3rd down.

- Doesn’t get as much of a consistent interior push as you would expect from a man his size. Plays high and loses the leverage battle at times.

- I would also add another weakness after this year... he plays high too often in the run game and can get stonewalled at times one-on-one. This was an issue down the stretch after his injury in particular. Your nose tackle pretty much has to take up two offensive linemen or you expect him to win in the run game.

Overall

This is what I finished up by saying about Jordan Davis last year.

I think Davis is going to walk into the NFL as a very good starter on early downs. I don’t think it will take too long before Davis is seen as an elite early down run defender. He isn’t the finished project and does need some coaching but the talent jumps out on film and you clearly see elite traits from him, in terms of the quickness and power of a man that size.

In terms of projecting him moving forward, I do think he will have the chance to play on 3rd down as he progresses throughout his career. I think he will have the strength and quickness to take on offensive guards and I think teams will instantly want to double-team him which will help free up the other defensive tackles and give the EDGE defenders one on ones on the outside.

I think that to be completely honest, Jordan Davis underachieved based on those expectations. I think we saw that he was a very good run defender on early downs, but he never jumped to the level of an elite run defender last year. Maybe I expected too much, as I did point out that he wasn’t the finished product, because I think he was a good starting nose tackle but didn’t perform to the heights I expected. I projected that he could one day play on 3rd down, but he certainly isn’t at that level yet. However, I did not expect this to be in year one so I am not worrying about that aspect yet.

Judging Jordan Davis’ first year is really tricky because I think we saw a far better player before his Week 8 injury. Davis missed 4 games and I don’t think he ever looked the same when coming back, and he struggled to even win his starting job back from Linval Joseph. It is easy to forget that on the biggest stage of them all, the Super Bowl, Davis only played 10 snaps when the Eagles simply could not stop the Chiefs' running game. To be blunt: Davis just didn’t look very good down the stretch of last season.

I think Jordan Davis was on his way to becoming an outstanding early down-run defender before his injury. I do think the injury is a slight worry, considering the size of Davis, and the fact that his conditioning in college was an issue. But as long as the injury doesn’t impact him over the long term, we should see a better Jordan Davis in the future.

I have pretty much zero doubts about Davis developing into the elite-run defender we saw at times last year. There are 2 things I am really looking out for from Jordan Davis next year, which he needs to achieve to take his game to the next level.

1. The ability to play as a 1-tech in a 4-down front more, and not just as a nose in a 5-man front.
2. The ability to get more pressure on the quarterback.

If Davis can achieve both of those goals, he should become an outstanding overall player. If he only ever achieves the 1st one, a top run-stuffing tackle is still a huge part of a defense. I would love to see Jordan Davis add some pass rush to his game, and I really hope we see that part of his game develop over the course of the next season. My concerns with Davis are largely around injuries and conditioning, and I am still very optimistic that he develops into the player I thought he would become.