"Big Train" Jordan Davis a Hit at the Linc
PHILADELPHIA – Fletcher Cox compared Jordan Davis to a big train during a zoom call prior to Sunday night’s open practice at Lincoln Financial Field.
Then the rookie first-round pick went out and looked very much the part in a one-on-one drill against Cam Jurgens.
"It's hard to stop a big train when it's moving,” said Cox. “You know, I don't think you can stop a train, once the train gets rolling it's hard to stop them.”
Davis’ bull rush is all over the Internet.
Jurgens tried to anchor not once but several times, but the locomotive that is Davis just kept right on chugging.
“Size, strength, right?” said head coach Nick Sirianni when asked what has stood out to him after the first week-plus of training camp about Davis. “Just a big man who is still figuring out the NFL. That's an ongoing process.
“What you see more than anything is just the sheer size of the man and then just his strength. The guys that we went against that have that enormous size in the middle right there, they pose problems. So, that's what's stood out the most to me so far.”
Some have compared Davis to a young Albert Haynesworth, who was similar in size to Davis at 6-6, 335.
Haynesworth was drafted 15th overall by the Titans in 2002 and played 10 seasons.
After a slow start, with just three starts and one sack as a rookie, and some controversy along the way, Haynesworth grew into an eventual two-time All-Pro and a top five finisher twice in the AP Defensive Player of the Year balloting.
“We talk every day and I talked to Jordan every day about technique and about doing stuff,” said Cox. “I said, 'Man, just go out today and just focus on getting better at one thing and just continue to do it until they stop it, and when they stop you just get better and you start out and you just keep getting better and keep doing it and doing it.'
“And at training camp that's all he's doing, he's taking that one thing every day and just is working on it every day. You can tell that he's working on it.”
The Eagles traded up two spots to take Davis at No. 13 overall. The last time the Eagles traded up for a defensive tackle was for Cox in 2012 when they took him at No. 12 overall.
“I've been in the same position that he's in where the Eagles traded up to get me so I kind of know where he's at right now,” said Cox, who played 53 percent of the defensive snaps as a rookie and collected 5.5 sacks.
“But I told him don't let any other things distract him, just work on the little things. And you know, at the end of the day, we want to teach him how to be a pro, how to practice, and how to be successful."
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
