The Philadelphia Eagles have decisions to make on three players eligible to have their fifth-year options picked up by the team. They are DT Jordan Davis, WR Jahan Dotson, and QB Kenny Pickett, who were all selected in the first round of the 2022 draft.
The deadline to pick up those options is May 1, so this isn't anything urgent, but let's go ahead and give a refresher on how fifth-year options work, and whether the Eagles are likely to use them on these three players.
To begin, what is the fifth-year option?
To begin, Davis, Dotson, and Pickett are all under contract in 2025. The decision to pick up their fifth-year options would be for the 2026 season.
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.
OverTheCap's projected tiers for Davis, Dotson, and Pickett are as follows:
| Fifth-year option | Tier 1 (Basic) | Tier 2 (Playtime) | Tier 3 (1 Pro Bowl) | Tier 4 (2+ Pro Bowl) |
| Jordan Davis | $11,457,000 | $12,640,000 | $18,934,000 | $23,468,000 |
| Jahan Dotson | $15,161,000 | $16,633,000 | $22,523,000 | $25,693,000 |
| Kenny Pickett | $20,688,000 | $23,788,000 | $35,267,000 | $41,325,000 |
None of Davis, Dotson, or Pickett have made the Pro Bowl, so you can eliminate Tiers 3 and 4, however, Dotson does qualify for Tier 2 status since he hit playing time benchmarks. Davis and Pickett did not play enough snaps to qualify for Tier 2.
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 the team exercised it. 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.
The Eagles chose not to exercise Andre Dillard's fifth-year option in 2022, and they had already traded Jalen Reagor before needing to make the obvious decision not to exercise his in 2023.
Jahan Dotson
During the summer, the Eagles traded a third-round pick and a pair of seventh-round picks for Dotson and a fifth-round pick. During the regular season, he made 19 catches for 216 yards and 0 TDs while playing 786 snaps. He most got a lot of cardio work in, running clearouts for A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. He made 3 catches for 53 yards and a TD in the playoffs.
#JimmyVerdict: As noted above, Dotson's fifth-year option is $16,633,000. Obviously, the Eagles will decline that.
Kenny Pickett
During the spring, the Eagles traded a third-round pick and a pair of seventh-round picks for Pickett and a fourth-round pick. He filled in for Jalen Hurts in-game against the Commanders Week 16, a loss. He started the following week against the Cowboys, and played well before leaving with an injury to his ribs. The Eagles won that game.
#JimmyVerdict: Pickett's fifth-year option is $20,688,000. Again, the Eagles will have an easy decision to decline that.
Jordan Davis
The case for Davis is a little more nuanced.
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 will cost $11,457,000, which is actually the second-cheapest fifth-year option 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.
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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 they will try to think of every reason possible to exercise his fifth-year option. Here's what I came up with:
• 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 $11.5 million. The 2026 franchise tag amount of interior defensive linemen in 2026 will be around $25 million.
• Jalen Carter played over 1000 snaps in 2024, and the Eagles might lose 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: My bet is that the Eagles will indeed talk themselves into exercising Davis' fifth-year option, or find some other compromise with Davis in the form of a contract extension.
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