Why Eagles teammates are so happy to see Jordan Davis find success

Why Eagles teammates are so happy to see Jordan Davis find success originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Nakobe Dean has known Jordan Davis for a really long time, dating back to their days together at Georgia.
It's not hard to figure out why Davis is a favorite in the Eagles' locker room.
He always says he's like a personality hire," Dean said this week. He has a big personality, so that makes people just root for him in the locker room."
Through three games, the 25-year-old Davis is off to by far the best start of his four-year NFL career. He already has 16 tackles to lead all defensive tackles in the NFL and he's playing a ton of snaps after the departure of Milton Williams in free agency.
The former first-round pick, in his fourth season, is finally playing up to his draft status.
I think everybody wants instant gratification," head coach Nick Sirianni said. That's just not the reality of the sport. I know there's guys that come in and instantly play really good, but to reach your level as a player, there are steps to it. Just like I talked about, there's steps to developing to play your best football by the end of the year, there's steps to it. I think the main thing that came to my mind was patience."
All that patience has paid off. Davis has been playing at an extremely high level through three games.
And his teammates are absolutely loving it.
It makes it special because I've seen all the hard work he's put in," Dean said. I'm not talking about the physical hard work. Everybody physically works hard in the NFL or should physically work hard. I'm talking about more the mental and spiritual work he has put in this offseason to get to where he is now and to continue to rise and get better."
The Eagles traded up in the first round back in 2022 to select Davis with the No. 13 overall pick and he has been a serviceable, albeit part-time, player for them. That has changed this year.
Davis began getting in better shape toward the end of last season and continued that this offseason, losing 26 pounds. He's now a slimmer version of himself and that has allowed him to play 130 defensive snaps through three games and to play at a higher level than we have ever seen from him before.
I think that's No. 1, just the physical shape he's in right now," Jurgens said. You saw it. He ran 18 miles an hour or more on the last play of the game after playing so many snaps. That's damn impressive."
Jurgens is right. Davis reached 18.59 mph on his return after blocking what would have been a game-winning field goal on Sunday afternoon against the Rams. That was his 57th overall snap of the game.
It's telling that he still had enough gas in the tank to make the play.
I've seen him last year and this year, all his progress and the work he's put in to get to where he is," fellow defensive tackle Byron Young said. I think everybody is excited because we know the work that he put in because we've been with him all throughout the offseason, all throughout camp. Everybody is excited to see him out there making plays and doing things we all knew he could do."
And the entire team was overjoyed watching Davis rumble for his first NFL touchdown.
It was a good moment just to see him open up and seeing his smile as he crossed the line," said Kelee Ringo, another one of Davis's Georgia teammates. Seeing that moment for him was a great moment."
Cohesion in locker room is so important. It's why Sirianni is always preaching connection to his players. The Eagles would clearly celebrate the accomplishments of any player in that locker room, but it seems like everyone is extra excited to see Davis play well this season.
Part of the reason is just because of his personality.
He's a great locker room guy," Jurgens said. Everybody on the team loves him. He can light up the room. He's got a very big personality and everybody loves him. When he gets to make a big play, it's fun."
Davis isn't a captain but he has been one of the leaders of that defensive line for a couple seasons now after the retirement of Fletcher Cox.
All the support he gets from his teammates means a ton to Davis.
This is what I do it for, the guys," Davis said. When it was told to me that my role was going to be higher this year, I had to get into preparation for being on the field and getting in that mode and getting in condition and stuff like that. My biggest motivation is that I really don't want to let the guys down. ...
When the guys say they're proud of me, that's the biggest compliment I could receive. Those are the guys that work with me, they're here with me every day, they see me every day, they see the work that I've been putting in."
There has been plenty to cheer for this season with Davis. Not only is he leading NFL interior defensive linemen with 16 tackles but he has the second-most stops (high value tackles) with 12.
He is also tied for the league lead among defensive linemen with three batted passes and picked up a sack on Matthew Stafford in Week 3.
It's been great," Dean said. We don't harp on it too much. Not too big, not too small. Because we gotta continue to go, gotta continue get better."