Why Your Favorite NFL Team Should Draft Jordan Davis

Jordan Davis

School: University of Georgia

Class: Senior

Height: 6’6

Weight: 340

Tackles: 18

TFL: 

Sacks: 1.5

(All Stats Through seven Games)

Potential NFL Team: Any of them

Introduction: Jordan Davis is a freak of nature, possessing a unique combination of size, strength and agility. Accordingly, he’s the best interior defensive lineman in this draft and will continue to wreak havoc at the next level.  

Positives: Jordan Davis is an immovable object. He plays with a ridiculously low pad level at all times, which makes him virtually unblockable. Standing at 6’6 340, Davis consistently draws a double team at the minimum, which in turn allows Georgia’s speedy linebackers to cause problems at and behind the line of scrimmage. Davis is strong as a bull, and shows elite power; at the line of scrimmage, he dislodges and wobbles blockers with strong jabs and handwork.

On account of Davis’ ability to occupy multiple blockers, most of his value is derived from his run-stopping prowess. Since Davis demands the focus of multiple offensive linemen, his teammates are able to shoot gaps and make plays against the run. Additionally, Davis is no mindless brute in the trenches—he shows a great understanding of his gap responsibility and how to warp the integrity of the opposing offensive line.  Moreover, he’s a tremendous athlete for his size, able both to explode off the line of scrimmage and bend fluidly at the hips to gain leverage on blockers. Most impressive, he often shoots gaps and forces runners to retreat and go elsewhere; amazingly, not only does Davis force running backs to reroute, he oftentimes chases them down from behind after doing so.

In the NFL, Davis profiles mainly as a nose tackle, but his athleticism may allow him to fill a variety of roles along the interior defensive line depending on the scheme. 

Improvement: Davis is as versatile as a man his size possibly could be, but he’s projected to only be a two down player. Although Davis has the capacity to penetrate the backfield on run plays, he doesn’t add much value as a pass-rusher; through his three and a half seasons at Georgia, he only has a total of six sacks. At this stage in his career, he has a pretty barren buffet of pass rushing moves beyond being giant and running in a straight line towards the quarterback. Unfortunately for Davis, the NFL is undoubtedly a passing league and teams are looking to get faster players on the field on third downs to rush quarterbacks, inherently marginalizing players with Davis’s build and skill-set.. No matter how impactful Davis may be on first and second down, he’ll most likely watch most third downs and two-minute drills from the sidelines. 

Overview: Davis has a weird irony within his game—he’s so dominant on first- and second- down that he almost plays himself into irrelevance once opponents find themselves facing third-and-long situations; still whoever drafts Davis gets a hard worker, and an absolute tone setter in the trenches. With Florida, potentially SEC championship game, and NCAA playoffs left, if Davis can show value in the pass rushing game, he’ll have a real shot to become a top ten pick in this year’s draft.