The Jacksonville Jaguars are all in — all in. On Monday, the team completed its third trade, and the biggest yet was acquiring DT Jordan Davis from the Eagles in a truly blockbuster deal.
Jacksonville will send a 1st round pick in 2027 and a 2nd round pick in 2029. According to Adam SchefterThe Jaguars are making a big change on the defensive line after making a separate deal for Daven Godchews to the Saints. That’s in addition to the trade they made Monday to start, sending a 2nd round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for safety Jesse Battis, who is in the final year of his contract.
This deal represents a major improvement on Ruk Orhohoro’s front, but comes with significant risk. Jacksonville is pushing all the chips toward the middle of the table, and they’re right to be as close to winning the Super Bowl as they think.
Jacksonville Jaguars Grade: C+
Jordan Davis is a solid run-stopper, but not a unicorn talent. While he’s good at meeting ball carriers in the offensive zone, he’s a below-average pass rusher and doesn’t connect well across the field. We are mainly looking at a top 15 player in the run stopping position and below average in terms of passing.
This is not a player worth a 1st or 2nd round pick unless you are absolutely certain he could be your missing piece. The Jaguars seem to think so, but the Colts felt the same way a year ago when they gave up two first-round picks for Sauce Gardner. See how that one worked out.
Jacksonville is clearly a better team in 2026 than Indianapolis was a year ago, but the shakeup is along the same lines. It’s a big, bold move that drips with courage, but it’s not clear the team has found that place yet. Davis is designed to help stop the top running backs he faces in the game, like James Cook and Kenneth Walker — which is great, but it’s pretty inconclusive right now.
The Jags are currently 6-2, which is a pretty good spot, but they’ve played a soft schedule to this point, with their two losses coming against top competition in Denver and Houston. All six of Jacksonville’s wins have come against teams with a combined record of 24-29. Sure, you can only play the teams in front of you – but that can also lead to the miscalculation that you’re a lot better than you are. think You are, and this is where the point falls a little short.
When it comes right down to it, trading 1st and 2nd for Jordan Davis is overpaying. If this doesn’t result in a Super Bowl win, then we’ll be talking about this a lot around the 2027 NFL Draft, even though they don’t have a 1st round pick for the second year in a row since the Jaguars made a trade.
Philadelphia Eagles Ranking: A
I’ll give the big-time writer a nod when teams accept where they are. When news first broke that the Jaguars had traded the 1st and 2nd picks for the Eagles DT, all of us at SB Nation thought Jacksonville would be taking Jalen Carter and not Jordan Davis.
Philly gave up a potential replacement and got a significant return. This was a very smart move for a team that isn’t firing in 2026 and is playing for next year. Their pick in 2027 will help address their biggest need concerns along the offensive line and simply improve the team from the bottom up — which needs to happen.
This is an incredibly well-oiled example of a franchise taking advantage of a team looking to make an impact. It wasn’t necessarily a seller’s market that stopped DTs, but they made one anyway.
