The freakishly athletic defensive tackle has an official visit lined up in Philadelphia.
They all do it. They all tend to exaggerate a little here with height, and a little there with weight, always making the players out to be a little larger than the player actually is.
It’s constantly done at the college and high school level.
With Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, that may be the opposite. He’s list at 6-foot-6, 340 pounds, but in person, he looks much, much larger than that—the size of a human battleship.
On Friday night in Atlantic City, N.J., Davis was the recipient of the prestigious Maxwell Football Club’s Chuck Bednarik Award as the Collegiate Defensive Player of the Year along with winning the Outland Trophy earlier this year. He was about a 40-minute drive from Philadelphia (depending on how fast you’re driving).
In the coming month, Davis will be much closer.
Davis redefined the game-changer definition into a game-crusher. That’s exactly what the 6-foot-6, 340-pound defensive tackle did to opposing offensive game plans.
Despite being constantly double- and sometimes triple-teamed, Davis was a disruptive force in the middle of the Bulldog defense, recording 32 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 9 quarterback hurries in the Bulldogs’ drive to their first national championship since 1980.
An AP and Coaches’ all-SEC first-team choice along with All-American recognition, Davis passed on the NFL Draft to return to lead the Bulldogs’ defense during their historic 2021 season.
Davis was considered one of the best run defenders in the SEC. Davis was named an All-American in 2020 and had an even bigger season in 2021. Davis dazzled at the NFL Combine, where at weighing 341 pounds he an incredible 4.78-seconds in the 40-yard dash.
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And maybe on Thursday, April 28, Davis could be heading to the Eagles. Davis could be there. He’s being projected to go anywhere from the middle of the first round to the latter portions of the first round. The Eagles have the 15th, 16th and 19th picks in the first round.
With the Eagles re-signing Fletcher Cox to a one-year contract on Saturday, who’s to say the Eagles don’t like two versions of the All-Pro defensive tackle creating problems for opposing offenses.
“I’ve been in contact with the Philadelphia Eagles and I plan on having a top-30 visit soon,” Davis said. “There’s not really too much I can say right now other than that, but we have been in contact. For me, it works great (if the Eagles drafted him). I loved watching Fletcher Cox growing up. I try to pattern part of my game after him and I love how dominant he is.”
“I know the Eagles have three first-round picks. I put in the work for the combine and I did surprise myself with how fast my time was. I came in with a number in my head, and that was a number around 4.9. When they said I hit 4.7, I exceeded my own expectations. My agent told me to shut it down.”
There’s certainly no questioning Davis’ character. He would have been a first or second-round pick had he come out after his junior season in 2020. But Davis opted to go a route rarely taken today and returned to school.
“The only thing on my mind was to win the national championship. It’s why I came back.” Davis said. “Character is big with me. It’s something that comes from home. I was raised to finish what I started. I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to win a national championship, and did it with the guys I came up with at Georgia. If I had to do it again, I would do it 10 times over.
“We’re close to Philly now. There’s a chance I may get closer (laughs). I’m definitely not ruling out that possibility.”
When told that the Eagles may re-sign Cox, Davis said, “all of the better. The Eagles could have two dominant players in the middle. We’ll see. It’s a great situation. We’re talking to a lot of teams right now.”
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Complete list of known Philadelphia Eagles draft visits
Georgia DT Jordan Davis