Eagles’ Jordan Davis Doesn’t Sound Confident In Starter's Return

The Philadelphia Eagles have a lot of talent heading to the open market this offseason once free agency opens.

In total, the Eagles currently have 18 pending free agents, per Spotrac. Of the group, the most prominent heading into the offseason are linebacker Nakobe Dean, tight end Dallas Goedert, safety Reed Blankenship, and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips. There are other impactful players heading to the open market, these four are the ones who arguably are the biggest to watch.

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Of the group, Dean will be specifically will be interesting to follow. He's just 25 years old and has battled through injuries in Philadelphia, but he continued to show in 2025 that he's a big-time talent when he returned to the field. He only played in 10 games, but had a career high four sacks to go along with one pass defended, two forced fumbles, and 55 total tackles. Jihaad Campbell started the season in Dean's place when he was hurt and then moved to more of a depth role when the 25-year-old was back in the fold.

The Eagles have plenty of free agency decisions to make

Nov 16, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) reacts against the Detroit Lions during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

While discussing Dean, longtime teammate Jordan Davis -- who also played college ball with him -- didn't sound optimistic about a return, as shared by Martin Frank of the Delaware News Journal.

"I know Nakobe is going to ball out wherever he goes, whether that’s here or not," Davis said. "Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the beast. You can’t control stuff like that. You can only just let it happen and adjust from there.

"Nakobe’s my guy, and everybody knows that … Having a guy like that in the room, and having that guy behind you, just like the confidence. We’ve been together going on damn near eight years now, so it’s just kind of crazy to imagine a defense where he’s not behind me, where he’s not calling plays, he’s not calling shots."

Now, anything could happen. But those comments from someone who has been teammates with Dean for a long time aren't promising. On the bright side, Dean said himself he doesn't want to leave.

"My expectation is, I mean, God's going to handle it," Dean said. "I'm excited, yeah...Of course, I think everybody knows I want to be in Philly. I don't want to go nowhere."

But there are a lot of moving parts and linebacker is an area of strength -- and potentially surplus -- for the franchise. In a perfect world, the Eagles run it back with the defense as is. But there are tough decisions to come.

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