The Philadelphia Eagles will exercise the fifth-year options for DT Jordan Davis, according to a report from Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports.
Let's first give a refresher on how fifth-year options work, and whether or not exercising Davis' was a wise move.
To begin, what is the fifth-year option?
Players selected in the first round of the draft who have completed their third year in the league are eligible to have a fifth year added onto their contract by their team. It typically isn't cheap, and there are four pay tiers for fifth-year options, as laid out by OverTheCap:
• Tier 1 (Basic): Players who do not meet any of the requirements below will be eligible for a fifth year base salary calculated from the average of the 3rd to 25th highest salaries at their position over the past five seasons.
• Tier 2 (Playtime): These players will be eligible for a fifth year base salary calculated from the average of the 3rd to 20th highest salaries at their position over the past five seasons, provided that their snap counts over their first three seasons meet one of the following three criteria:
- 75% or greater in two of their first three seasons.
- An average of 75% or greater over all three seasons.
- 50% or greater over all three seasons.
• Tier 3 (One Pro Bowl): Players who are named to exactly one Pro Bowl on the original ballot (not as an alternate) will be eligible for a fifth year base salary equal to the transition tender at their position.
• Tier 4 (Multiple Pro Bowls): Players who are named to two or three Pro Bowls on the original ballot (not as an alternate) will be eligible for a fifth year base salary equal to the franchise tender at their position.
| Fifth-year option | Tier 1 (Basic) | Tier 2 (Playtime) | Tier 3 (1 Pro Bowl) | Tier 4 (2+ Pro Bowl) |
| Jordan Davis | $12,938,000 | $14,374,000 | $20,848,000 | $25,122,000 |
Davis has never made a Pro Bowl and he doesn't play many snaps, so he falls into Tier 1, and will cost a little under $13 million in 2026.
The last time the Eagles truly utilized a player's fifth-year option was in 2020, when they exercised Derek Barnett's. (Technically, they also exercised DeVonta Smith's fifth-year option and included that as part of his contract extension last offseason, but whatever.)
At the time the Eagles exercised Barnett's option, the fifth-year salary did not become fully guaranteed until the first day of the new league year in the player's fifth year. It was only fully guaranteed for injury, as in, if say a player tore his ACL late in his fourth season, that fifth-year option would become fully guaranteed.
After changes made in the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement, fifth-year options became fully guaranteed as soon as teams exercised them. It's worth quickly noting that all non-guaranteed salary in the player's fourth season also becomes fully guaranteed. Since that change, the utilization of fifth-year options around the league has decreased.
In other words, Davis' $12,938,000 in 2026 is now fully guaranteed.
Was this a wise move by the Eagles?
During the 2024 season (playoffs included), Davis played just 445 snaps, or 21.2 per game. That was the fourth-most snaps among the Eagles' interior defensive linemen:
| Eagles iDL | Snaps |
| Jalen Carter | 1068 |
| Milton Williams | 654 |
| Moro Ojomo | 490 |
| Jordan Davis | 445 |
| Thomas Booker | 177 |
During the regular season, Davis was a good against the run, but he only had 27 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 batted passes. His fifth-year option is actually the third-cheapest of the 32 players selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, but obviously still a lot of money. On the surface, Davis' playing time and production do not warrant that kind of money.
However, the Eagles invested a lot of draft resources into Davis, when they traded three draft picks — a fourth-round pick and two fifth-round picks — just to move up from the 15th overall to the 13th overall pick to select him. You can be certain that the Eagles tried to think of every reason possible to exercise his fifth-year option. Here's what I came up with for their justification:
• He contributed as a pass rusher in the playoffs, collecting a sack in the NFC Championship Game against the Commanders, as well as in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. His NFCCG sack:
And his Super Bowl sack:
• It's not uncommon for interior defensive linemen to take a few years to get their NFL sea legs. This excuse isn't as compelling for Davis as it was a year or two ago, but there are certainly some good NFL defensive linemen who didn't impress much until their fourth seasons in the league. Guys who really popped in their fourth seasons include Dexter Lawrence, Zach Allen, Nnamdi Madubuike, and Vita Vea, though certainly, they all showed more in their first three seasons than Davis has through his.
Though Davis hasn't popped yet, he did show something in the playoffs, and he remains one of the most physically gifted players in the NFL:
If the Eagles don't exercise Davis' fifth-year option and he pops in 2025, they'll regret not having him under contract in 2026 at $13 million. The 2026 franchise tag amount of interior defensive linemen in 2026 will be around $26 million. (Of course, if he maintains the same level of production in 2025 that he has through his first three seasons, they'll regret paying him $13 million a lot more.)
• Jalen Carter played over 1,000 snaps in 2024, and the Eagles lost Brandon Graham (retirement) and Milton Williams (free agency). Their iDL depth could be depleted and if they lose Davis in 2026 that would be yet another spot that would have to be filled.
• The best player on the Eagles' defense is Carter, and Nolan Smith is a budding star. Carter and Smith are both close with Davis. Perhaps there's something to be said for nurturing camaraderie in the locker room and keeping your best players happy?
#JimmyVerdict: The Eagles did indeed talk themselves into exercising Davis' fifth-year option, but in my opinion the justifications laid out above does not warrant paying $13 million to a player who plays roughly one-third of the defensive snaps and who has not made much of an impact when he has played.
There was also this from Jeff McLane of the Inquirer during draft weekend:
RE: #Eagles picking up DT Jordan Davis' 5th-year option. They have until next week, although they've already decided to not pick up WR Jahan Dotson's (no surprise).
The feeling here is that the final decision will say something about how Davis handled his training in the…— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) April 25, 2025
"The feeling here is that the final decision will say something about how Davis handled his training in the offseason. The Eagles likely wanted to see the necessary commitment from a player they still believe in — but has yet to deliver on their investment partly because of conditioning, partly because pass rush projection might have been off — if they were to sign off on $13M for 2026."
It's Year 4 and we're still talking about Davis' conditioning? He either wants to care a lot about football, or he doesn’t, and if it’s still a consideration after three full NFL seasons, don't we already have that answer?
This decision feels like a rare mistake from the front office.
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