For the first time in seven years, an Eagles defensive tackle has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Jordan Davis, who batted down three passes in the Eagles’ 16-9 win over the Lions Sunday night, won his second Player of the Week award this year but his first on defense. He was named Special Teams Player of the Week after his blocked field goal and touchdown return as time expired to save the Eagles’ win over the Rams.
Along with Jalen Carter, who batted down two passes, the Eagles got five pass deflections from their Georgia interior linemen. One of the three passes that Davis tipped was picked off by Cooper DeJean and returned to the Lions’ 11-yard line to set up a field goal.
Davis’ career got off to a sluggish start, but he’s got himself into better shape than he’s ever been in, and it’s been showing in his play. After playing just 37 percent of the defensive snaps last year, he’s playing 60 percent this year.
Out of 143 interior linemen who’ve played at least 100 snaps, Pro Football Focus has him graded 18th-highest this year.
“Just proud of him because I think what a great example of the world that we live in today, (people want) instant gratification,” Nick Sirianni said. “And he had to go through some ups and downs … in his career. And he’s just continued to put his head down and work.
“He’s got himself in the best shape of his life. I think he’s seeing that and it’s paying off. And just happy for him because of all the work that he’s put into to get that acknowledgement that he got from the NFL. And he’s been playing really good football.
“It’s awesome to be able to talk about those guys like Moro (Ojomo) and Jordan and their continued development because they’re really helping us win games.”
Davis is the Eagles’ first interior lineman to be named Defensive Player of the Week since Fletcher Cox had three sacks and three tackles for loss in the Eagles’ 24-0 win over Washington on the final day of the 2018 season.
Davis is the Eagles’ second Defensive PoW recipient this year. Quinyon Mitchell received the award after the Eagles’ win in Tampa.
Other Eagles defensive tackles to win Defensive Player of the Week are since the award’s inception in 1984: Kenny Clarke in 1984, Jerome Brown once each in 1988 and 1989, Andy Harmon in 1995, Rhett Hall in 1997, Corey Simon in 2000 and Cox once each in 2015, 2016 and 2018.
Davis, the Eagles’ first-round pick in 2022, has 3.0 sacks, six pass deflections, four QB hits and four tackles for loss this year — all career highs. He’s the only Eagle to play in all 49 games since opening day 2022.