Jaguars land Jordan Davis from Eagles to cap a three-trade defensive spree

The Jacksonville Jaguars finished a remarkable Monday by acquiring defensive tackle Jordan Davis from the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick, their third trade for a defender in a single day.

Davis arrived hours after Jacksonville sent a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for safety Jessie Bates III, then gave the New Orleans Saints a conditional 2028 sixth-round pick for defensive tackle Davon Godchaux. That sixth-rounder could become a 2027 sixth if conditions are met, though Jacksonville does not currently own a 2027 sixth and would owe it to New Orleans only if it eventually acquires one.

Added up, the Jaguars spent a first-round pick, two second-round picks from different drafts (2027 and 2029), a fifth and a sixth to rebuild a defense that had sprung leaks in two places. The league's trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, so there is still time for more.

"Jordan's impact on the field can be felt on every down," Jaguars general manager James Gladstone said, calling Davis "a well-rounded premier player and person."

Why Jacksonville paid a first for Davis

The motivation is easy to trace. Nose tackle DaVon Hamilton suffered a season-ending quad injury in the Jaguars' Week 8 win over the Indianapolis Colts, and he had anchored a run defense that ranked first in the NFL at that point. In the first game without him, last Thursday against the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville allowed 172 rushing yards.

Even after that game, the Jaguars rank fifth in rushing yards allowed at 89.3 per game and seventh at 3.7 yards per carry. The concern was less about where they stand than about how quickly that ranking could erode without a true space-eater in the middle.

Davis fills that job. At 6-foot-6 and 336 pounds, he ranks seventh among all defensive tackles with 17 run stops this season, according to Pro Football Focus. His pass rush has been far less productive: his eight pressures rank 74th at the position by the same measure.

That split matters, because interior pass rush has been a weak spot for Jacksonville over the past two seasons. The Jaguars are tied for 23rd in the league with 16 sacks, yet they rank fifth in pass-rush win rate at 55%, a sign that the front is beating blockers more often than the sack total suggests. Davis won't solve that by himself, but a lineman who demands double teams should free up the edge rushers who are already winning.

There is also a familiar face waiting in Jacksonville. Davis went 13th overall in the 2022 draft, 12 picks after his Georgia teammate Travon Walker, now a Jaguars defensive end. Davis won a national championship at Georgia, and the Eagles traded up to draft him.

The bigger question is which version of Davis the Jaguars are getting. His 2025 season was the best of his career, with highs of 72 tackles, 4.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss, six quarterback hits and six passes defensed. That production earned him a three-year, $78 million extension in March, with $64.4 million guaranteed, which kicks in after this season.

This year has been quieter: 31 tackles, 1.5 sacks and three stuffs through nine games, with his snap share dropping from 62% last season to 52%. He has played every game, but he appeared on the injury report with an ankle problem earlier in the season and recently said he has been playing through a hand issue. Over four-plus seasons in Philadelphia, he has 193 tackles, 17 for loss, and 9.5 sacks.

That is the real gamble in this deal. The draft picks are only part of the cost; Jacksonville is also taking on a contract that pays like an every-down star starting next season. If the hand and ankle explain the dip, the Jaguars bought a 26-year-old at a fair price. If 2025 was the outlier, they have committed premium money and a first-round pick to a run specialist.

Bates and Godchaux fill the other holes

The Bates trade addresses a different injury. Starting safety Eric Murray is out for the rest of the season with an elbow injury. Jacksonville's pass defense ranks 22nd at 229 yards per game, though the team leads the NFL in turnover margin at plus-9, and its 11 interceptions rank third.

Bates fits that ball-hawking profile neatly. The 29-year-old has 28 career interceptions and has recorded at least one in every season of a nine-year career that began with the Cincinnati Bengals, who drafted him in the second round in 2018. He made the Pro Bowl in 2023, the year he signed with Atlanta, and he has missed only three games as a pro. He is in the final season of a four-year, $64 million deal, so this is effectively a rental unless Jacksonville extends him.

Godchaux, who turns 32 on Wednesday, is a run-stuffing tackle expected to work into the line rotation. He has 487 tackles, 5.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and 27 quarterback hits across 10 seasons since the Miami Dolphins took him in the fifth round in 2017. The Saints got him from the New England Patriots in 2025, and he is also in the final year of his contract, worth $11 million.

Taken together, the three moves read as a coherent plan rather than a scattershot buying binge. Jacksonville lost its nose tackle and a starting safety and replaced both, then added depth up front for the price of a late-round pick. The Godchaux deal in particular looks like smart insurance: if Davis needs time to settle in, a veteran run-stopper can soak up early-down snaps.

Philadelphia turns toward the future

For the Eagles, the trade is a clear acknowledgment of where their season stands. Philadelphia is 2-7 and has lost seven straight games, and Davis' dip has been part of that disappointment. The return adds to a pile of draft capital that already included a 2028 first-round pick from the Patriots, acquired in the offseason trade of wide receiver A.J. Brown. The Eagles now hold 10 picks in the first two rounds of the next three drafts.

Moving Davis also clears a path for Moro Ojomo, the defensive tackle Philadelphia had told teams it did not intend to deal despite his being in the final year of his rookie contract. The Eagles can now try to extend Ojomo and pair him with Jalen Carter, who signed a four-year, $152 million extension this summer.

That looks like a sensible reset. Paying Carter and Davis both at top-of-market rates on a losing team would have been hard to justify, and the Eagles turned a player whose new contract had not yet started into a first-round pick. The risk for Philadelphia is simply the one every seller takes: if Davis returns to his 2025 form in Jacksonville, the Eagles will have sold low on a 26-year-old they once traded up to get.

Jacksonville, meanwhile, has made its intentions plain. A team does not spend a first, two seconds and two more picks in a day to tread water, and the next test comes quickly, with the deadline closing Tuesday afternoon and three new defenders to fit into the lineup.