Eagles’ Jordan Davis is making ‘scary’ progress, which could be pivotal against the Cowboys’ rushing attack

Earlier this season, Milton Williams gave Jordan Davis some advice on making the most of limited playing time.

The two interior defensive linemen have locker stalls next to each other, which may not be a coincidence. There’s plenty for Davis to absorb from his veteran teammates along the Eagles defensive front, but Williams is the one who most recently navigated the transition from playing in college to rotating in with Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave in the NFL.

“I just tell him to take advantage of the opportunities,” Williams said. “I’ll be like, ‘Man, you’re big, strong, and fast.’ One-on-one, ain’t nobody going to block him. Two-on-one, they’re not really going to move him. So it’s creating one-on-ones for the guys on the outside. So I tell him to go hard, play hard, chase the ball, play with his hands, and produce.”

So far, Davis has done just that. The first-round pick out of Georgia plays in the same personnel package Williams worked with last season, just as a one-technique (nose tackle) instead of the 4i technique that Williams played. Davis’ addition facilitated Hargrave moving to the 4i (lined up on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle), and has also led to the Eagles using more odd-man fronts with three interior linemen and two edge rushers up on the line of scrimmage.

Davis played 42% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps against the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday, which is his highest snap share of the season. Aside from Week 3 against the Washington Commanders, Davis has seen his snap-count percentage progressively rise each game of the season.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni praised Davis for his steady progress earlier this week, saying he played his best game against the Cardinals.

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“He’s a big man who has to continue to learn how to play in the NFL against other big men,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “So, he’s getting better each week. He’s doing a good job. He had his best game to date last game, and again he’s just in that mindset, the growth mindset of how he gets better every day.”

The 6-foot-6, 336-pound nose tackle could be in for another increased workload Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys. Davis has played the majority of his snaps on early downs to combat the run before ceding his spot to Cox or Hargrave for obvious passing situations.

According to Pro Football Focus, Davis has logged 50 snaps against the run and 63 against the pass. By comparison, Hargrave has 56 snaps against the run and 140 pass-rushing snaps and Cox’s numbers are nearly identical.

Dallas is one of the more run-reliant teams in the NFL, which could lead to Davis having a bigger role. According to the analytics website rbsdm.com, the Cowboys rank 27th in pass frequency on early downs; they call runs roughly 55% of the time in those situations.

“They are doing a really good job in the run game,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said Tuesday. “And it’s not just because they’re calling a lot of runs. They’re efficient and then create explosives with their runs. We’re going to have to do a good job. It’s not just Jordan. It’s all 11. Good run defense is all 11 guys. It’s not one guy.”

Davis had three solo tackles against the Cardinals and has seemingly made a couple of splash plays each week, whether it is getting into the backfield for a big hit or chasing down a play out on the perimeter.

“It’s just the plays I needed to make,” said Davis, 22. “If I see it, I’m going to make it. I wouldn’t call them splash plays, just plays. That’s one thing about this team, we’re not out here trying to be Superman, not trying to do each other’s jobs, we just make the plays that come to us.”

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Some of Davis’ splash plays typically get a reaction in the film room, Williams said, particularly one against the Jacksonville Jaguars when he broke into the backfield and slammed Jags running back Travis Etienne to the ground.

“Watching him every day since training camp in practice,” Williams said, “we know what type of player he is and what he can become based off what we’ve seen so far. We know he can only get better.

“We see some of those highlight splash plays. It’s going to be scary when he really puts it together.”

Inquirer Eagles beat reporters EJ Smith and Josh Tolentino preview the team’s Week 6 game against the Dallas Cowboys. Watch at Inquirer.com/EaglesGameday