Jordan Davis has a word of the year for 2025: Discipline

Jordan Davis says he has an official word for 2025: Discipline.

He apparently started showing it last year.

Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio on Tuesday was asked about the team’s decision to pick up Davis’s fifth-year option for 2026, and while Fangio said he didn’t have anything to do with that decision, he did offer that Davis is “in the best shape that he’s ever been in.” And Fangio said it actually started to happen late in the year in the Eagles’ Super Bowl season.

OK. But why did it take that long?

“We could be here a long time for that,” Fangio said. “For some guys it takes time, but I'm ducking that question.”

It’s probably a little telling that Davis is entering Year 4 of his career and the questions about his weight and conditioning are still being asked. Heck, those questions came up the moment the Eagles traded up to draft Davis with the No. 13 overall pick out of Georgia back in 2022. He’s 25 now.

And you’ve undoubtedly heard tales before that Davis is in the best shape of his life. Why will this time be any different? Maybe it won’t be. Maybe it won’t stick. But maybe this really is the season where Davis turns a corner in his personal fitness journey.

For what it’s worth, Davis is looking slimmer this spring after sticking with what worked for him late in 2024. One big change late last season came when he discovered his love for Peloton; his favorite instructor is Ally Love.

“I felt like that was completely necessary for me to reach that next level, to reach that next step,” Davis said. “It’s just putting in a little sweat equity, the little extra things. When I did that and I was consistent with it, the trajectory for how I was playing definitely took off and am very proud of myself. That’s one thing that I decided to continue on doing because I think last year coming into the offseason I understood it but I didn’t practice it. 

“Now, just being consistent. I wouldn’t say I didn’t practice it because I didn’t but being consistent with hit. My word of the year for 2025 was discipline. Discipline is having the strength to do it even when you don’t feel like doing it. That’s all we’ve been doing.”

But what led to his realization during the 2024 season that something needed to change?

“I wanted to look sexy,” Davis said with a smile. “I ain’t gonna sit there … I wanted to look sexy. I felt like my face was getting a little fat and I wanted to look good.”

The real answer? 

“Knowing that the team is relying on me,” Davis continued. “Knowing that the team has a lot of trust in me and expects me to be there in the big moments. I feel like anytime I get a chance to be on the field, I should be at my best. That’s just something that I have to continue to keep doing and I have to be ready. I have to stay ready so I don’t have to get ready.”

Davis did play better late in the 2024 season. Fangio saw it too. And it’s probably not a coincidence that as Davis works to improve as a pass-rusher, his conditioning level needs to fall in line. He can’t just be a 350-pound, two-gapping, run-stuffing nose tackle anymore. Davis is looking slimmer these days and that’s good because the Eagles are going to ask him to get after quarterbacks more following the departure of Milton Williams in free agency.

And after having just one sack during the 2024 regular season, Davis had two sacks in the playoffs — one in the NFC Championship Game and one in Super Bowl LIX. A limited sample size but perhaps a step in the right direction.

Davis is the only Eagles player to start every game over the last two seasons but he has still been a part-time player. After playing 45% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps in 2023, Davis played 37% (just 388 snaps) in 2024. And he was down to 21% in the playoffs. That fifth-year option salary in 2026 is worth around $13 million, which is an awful lot for a part-time player.

As expected, the Eagles played Davis on early downs in 2024 but took him off the field when they were facing passing downs. They elected to go with Jalen Carter, Williams and even Moro Ojomo. But now that Williams is gone, the Eagles might ask Davis to play and attack more.

Stuffing the run and occupying blockers will always need to be a huge part of Davis’s game but he needs to continue to develop as a pass rusher.

“It’s new. I can definitely say that,” Davis said. “It’s a new experience. Pass rushing has never really been my forefront of things. It’s always been run-stopping. Now that I’m getting into great shape and working hard and understanding the nuances of pass-rushing.”

Through three NFL seasons, Davis has proven himself to be a cromulent NFL defensive tackle, but he hasn’t lived up to his draft stock. When the Eagles took Davis with the No. 13 pick the vision was there. They thought he had special qualities that might take a while to develop.

As Davis enters Year 4, it’s time for that vision to come into focus.

“There’s nothing that I have to prove,” Davis said. “I just have to go out there and continue to be me. I just have to continue working hard. I’m not going out there because I have a vendetta against somebody or I have a point to prove to anybody. I just have to go out there and be the best version of myself. It’s team over I.”