Yay or nay? Eagles face a tricky situation with Jordan Davis and his fifth-year option

The next big thing in the NFL calendar is the draft at the end of the month. Shortly after that, though, comes May 1 — the deadline for teams to exercise the fifth-year options on their 2022 first-round draft pick. That means the Philadelphia Eagles need to make a decision on Jordan Davis. 

It’s a tricky situation because Davis is obviously a really valuable part of the defense, but relative to other first-round defensive linemen, he hasn’t exactly developed as well as you would’ve hoped.

A fifth-year option on a nose tackle?

Fifth-year options are weird. There are four different tiers, and the price for each option is dependent on the guy’s position and what tier he falls into. 

There’s a tier for players who have been pro bowlers for multiple years, a tier for someone who was a pro bowler once, a tier based on a lot of playing time, and then a tier for everyone else. Jordan Davis falls into that last tier.

That means if the Eagles exercised his option, he would be paid a fully guaranteed $12.9 million (per OverTheCap) for that fifth year. It’s worth noting that it also makes players’ fourth-year money become guaranteed, but that doesn’t matter for Davis because all of his rookie contract already is guaranteed.

This all means that the Eagles have one hell of a decision to make in the next month. The three realistic options here are to do the fifth-year jawn, extend him on some other kind of deal, or just decline the option and let him become a free agent. The best way to decide anything is to make a pros and cons list.

Pro: It’s not that expensive

The $12.9 million is based on the average salary of the third to 25th highest salaries at the position. Right now, $12.9 million would give him the 27th highest APY for interior defensive linemen this year. That price is only going to go up. 

OverThe Cap also says that the projected franchise tag price for a defensive tackle in 2026 is going to be $25.6 million. The fifth-year option would be just about half of that. 

We know that defensive tackles typically take a minute to hit their stride, and if Davis hits that stride this season, Howie Roseman and the gang will be kicking themselves in the pants if they didn’t sign him for the cheaper number. 

Con: He’s probably not a $12 million player right now

Looking at it from a broad view, Jordan Davis isn’t the 27th best defensive tackle in the NFL, but you’re comparing him to defensive tackles who have significantly different jobs than him.

As a pass-rusher, he’s shown that he can do it, but not with any real consistency. As a run-stopping and gap-plugging nose guard, Davis is up there with the best of them. Unfortunately, that’s not where a whole lot of the monetary value is with the position. 

Pro: Vibes

Initially, Howie Roseman's drafting of all the Georgia boys looked like it might not have been the best move, but that was the 2023 defense when everything was terrible. Now, it’s clearly working.

Only the Georgia boys truly understand the value of playing alongside each other for as long as they have. It seems foolish to change that up, especially up front and with the biggest guy.

In the divisional round against the Rams, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith were able to communicate non-verbally with each other and pull off a stunt that led to a third-down sack. 

Now, you’re not typically going to have those same kinds of stunts between two defensive tackles, but there has to be a crazy level of comfort knowing exactly how the guy next to you is going to play specific protections and run schemes. 

As much as Jalen Hurts’ opinion would weigh on who he’s throwing the ball to, Jalen Carter’s opinion should have the same weight on who he’s playing next to. You want your defensive tackle of the future to be as comfortable as ever.

Also, he’s got the voice of an angel, and when it comes to vibes, that’s worth about six trillion points.

Con: Availability

Paying a player guaranteed money is always going to be a gamble because if they get hurt, they still get that money (duh). Luckily, Davis hasn’t had that terrible of an injury history; he’s only missed a handful of games back in 2022. That being said, it’s the NFL, and anything can happen in any play (except the Brotherly Shove, that play is totally safe regardless of what a boneheaded hypocrite coach in Buffalo says).

That’s not the only thing ‘availability’ means, though. It’s also about how often the player is on the field, and Jordan Davis simply doesn’t have that many snaps, but it all kind of links back to his skill set and his ability to get after the quarterback.

Last year, (per Next Gen Stats and NFL Pro) Davis only played 37.6 percent of his available defensive snaps. There are a couple of things to take away from that: One is that Milton Williams was playing at a very high level, and it’d be stupid to put Davis on the field over him. The other thing is that Davis had a pretty good postseason. 

We saw Nolan Smith explode as an edge rusher in the postseason, and we are all rightfully excited about him. If Jordan Davis ends his season with three games where he played a combined 29 pass rush snaps where he got two sacks, why can’t we be excited about that too?

The point here is that while Jordan Davis hasn’t been trusted to play on passing downs that often, it doesn’t mean that he can’t be trusted to do better.

All in all, Jordan Davis absolutely should not have his fifth-year option declined. As of right now, he doesn’t offer the same value as your prototypical defensive tackle, but his body type and skill set are phenomenal for his actual job. 

Bottom Line:

If the Eagles did go the fifth-year option route, it’d be weird and a little contrary to all of their other money-saving moves they’ve made so far this offseason, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. 

He’s only 25 years old, so throwing an $8 million to $10 million (per year) contract his way seems like it’d be a good move. That way, he can be extended if he breaks out in years four and five, or they can move on if they need to. 

It just stinks for Davis because not only was he drafted the year before Jalen Carter, who is showing that he’s a generational talent, but he has to play right next to Carter as well. It’s kind of like when Jalen Reagor was on the field with Devonta Smith; they played the same position, but one guy was a billion percent better than the other one.