PHILADELPHIA — Within hours of missing out on Maxx Crosby, the Philadelphia Eagles secured one of their own through 2029. Jordan Davis agreed to a three-year, $78 million extension. He already was under contract for 2026.

This signing was anything but assured just a calendar year ago. Davis was not quite a bust, but he was careening down that path. Now, he is the embodiment of the rewards of professionalism, accountability and the fulfillment of potential, with an all-time play to punctuate his turnaround.

If the signature play of the 2024 season was Saquon Barkley hurdling a would-be tackler backward, then the signature play of 2025 was Davis blocking a last-second, potential game-winning field-goal attempt by the Rams, then returning it 61 yards for a touchdown as time expired. He reached 18.59 mph and, at 336 pounds, he became the heaviest player in NFL history to return a blocked field goal for a touchdown.

It was a feat Davis likely could not have accomplished in his first three seasons, since he weighed about 360 pounds. But that is part of the story.

In a city scarred by the tales of underperforming All-Stars like Joel Embiid and Odúbel Herrera, and the inauspicious beginning of the story of Flyers phenom Matvei Michkov, Davis is an example of what humility and discipline can produce in a young athlete.

Jalen Carter, his college buddy, his friend and his NFL teammate, would do well to emulate Davis’s habits. Carter, a first-round pick in 2023, was out of shape for most of 2025.

The Eagles drafted Davis 13th overall in 2022 despite red flags about his inability to rush the passer or, at the dinner table, pass on second and third helpings. For three seasons those warnings proved warranted. Defenders drafted after him shined, chief among them Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton, who has been to the last three Pro Bowls and made first-team All-Pro twice.

Meanwhile, Davis was little more useful in the NFL than he was at Georgia. In a passing league, he was unable to contribute on passing downs. He was too heavy, too slow and too easily exhausted.

After games he often was ashamed. Even in 2024, when the defensive line propelled the Eagles to a Super Bowl win, how could Davis take credit for a top-ranked defense when Moro Ojomo and Milton Williams, players with far less distinguished pedigrees, played more often and better than he?

Then, last summer, he grew up.

He bought a Peloton bike and lost 26 pounds, riding it to nowhere. He stopped drinking soda and sweet tea. He hired a new trainer, focused on fitness and stopped missing workouts.

“Discipline,” he said before the season, “is just having the strength to do it even when you don’t feel like doing it.”

That turned out to be a million-dollar philosophy. A $78 million philosophy, in fact.

Davis’ snap count increased from 17.5 per game in his first three seasons to 40.4 in 2025. After managing a total of just 3 1/2 sacks in his first three seasons, he collected 4 1/2 in 2025. He had 27 pressures. His Pro Football Focus overall defensive rating rating rose from 71.0 in 2024, which ranked 19th among defensive tackles who played at least 400 snaps, to 73.7, which was 13th.

His personality blossomed in step with his game, too, and what a personality it is.

He became ebullient, inclusive, outspoken, accountable. As the Eagles’ uneven defense of their Super Bowl title unfolded, and as the locker room grew grayer and more dismal, Davis, possessed of a rich sense of humor, was a midweek ray of sunshine.

The Eagles routinely sent videographers for their website into the locker room and onto the sideline of the practice fields to record offbeat Q&As and to ask players to participate in games of minor skill. Davis gleefully participated. His teammates, many of them less inclined to such frippery, followed suit.

As teammates from Georgia knew, Davis always had this person inside him, but Davis knew that a player who had a hard time making weight every week would not be taken seriously by teammates.

“Had to make sure my body was right, I was living right, before I could really speak my voice,” Davis said in December.

His voice has been crucial.

Between the absence of Jalen Hurts, the drama of A.J. Brown, and the reticence of DeVonta Smith, there’s no telling how dark the days might have been without Davis’ buoyant leadership.

What is remarkable about Davis is his kindness and empathy. He is careful, and he is thoughtful, and, when he’s not wearing his cleats and his shoulder pads, he is exceedingly gentle.

In a world in which so many young men struggle to make themselves vulnerable and available, Davis, authentically, does both.

He has to have a heart as giant as his 6-foot-6, 336-pound frame.

Maybe bigger.

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