Philadelphia Eagles: Trading up for Jordan Davis has no downside

‘Jordan Davis, no matter what.’

If Howie Roseman had a Sonny Weaver-style note in his pocket denoting his preferred selection for the Philadelphia Eagles at 15, that would have been the name on the card.

You see, Roseman has a very specific team-building philosophy. He likes to invest heavily in the trenches, not-so-heavily in the linebacking corps, and use premium draft picks on big-money positions like wide receiver: even if said pick is used on a veteran wide receiver like A.J. Brown instead of the next A.J. Brown, aka Treylon Burks.

With Javon Hargrave and Fletcher Cox both set to hit the open market at the end of the forthcoming season and the latter likely out of his prime entirely, securing the services of Jordan Davis, the freakiest player in the entire 2022 NFL Draft class, is an absolute steal, even if it meant giving up three Day 3 picks to get the deal done.

The Philadelphia Eagles secured one of the best prospects in the draft.

If the Philadelphia Eagles stood pat at 15, Jordan Davis wouldn’t have been available. He’d have been a member of the Baltimore Ravens, no doubt about it, and Howie Roseman would be picking between the likes of Treylon Burks, Jahan Dotson, and Kyle Hamilton as their selection at 15.

Instead, for the low-low price of the 15th, 124th, 162nd, and 166th overall picks – none of which fall on Day 2 – the Eagles secured the biggest defensive tackle in the 2022 NFL Draft class and the sort of foundational performer that just wasn’t going to be there at 15.

Davis is a different kind of cat. He’s bigger than Haloti Ngata but ran just .01 seconds slower than Carson Wentz and has the potential to become even more explosive if he trims down from
341 to 320-330.

Yes, some sill criticize Davis for his reputation for being a two-down player in college, and others will question if his playing speed really matches his testing numbers, but much like Fletcher Cox before him, the Georgia Bulldozer’s game won’t be defined by sacks or tackles for losses, but instead, how much easier he makes life for the rest of his teammates.

You see, Davis is impossible to block one-on-one; he’s too big, too wide, and too powerful for any NFL center to man up on without a little help from a guard. That calculus, when coupled with the presence of Hargrave, Haason Reddick, and Josh Sweat, will give opposing offensive coordinator fits and create mismatches on seemingly every single play, regardless of how coverages are called.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that Davis will immediately become one of the best run-stuffers in the NFC East? Who needs linebackers – don’t @ me, it’s just a joke – when you have a 6-foot-6, 320-plus pound refrigerator of a man clogging up holes in the middle of the defense; have fun running against that, folks.

Now granted, maybe the Philadelphia Eagles miss out on a player or two that could have been impactful in the fourth and fifth rounds. I had the Eagles securing Dominique Robinson, Daniel Bellinger, and Verone McKinley III with the picks they surrendered in my one and only seven-round mock draft, and securing a developmental defensive end, a TE2, and a rotational safety would have been solid gets on Day 3. But do you know what? None of those players are Jordan Davis, who is a cornerstone-type talent who will probably call the City of Brotherly Love home for the next decade-plus. A+ pick, in my humble opinion.