The two newest defensive tackles on the Jacksonville Jaguars met reporters after their first day in the building. Jordan Davis came from the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick, and Davon Godchaux came from the New Orleans Saints for a conditional sixth-round pick. Both deals were made on Monday, November 9, the same day the Jaguars traded for safety Jessie Bates III. Jacksonville is 6-2 and plays at the 1-7 Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Davis, a 2022 first-round pick out of Georgia, is in his fifth season and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles. Godchaux, 31, is in his 10th season and joined the Saints in a trade with the New England Patriots. The Jaguars posted their full media availability on Thursday.
“I try not to cry”
Davis was asked whether he had time to think about his years in Philadelphia. “On the way to the airport, I had a moment. I try not to cry. I try not to cry, but you know, I pray, and I play a song, Frank Sinatra, ‘My Way,’” he said. “I think that just encompasses, you know, just your time there.” He said he grew as a player and a person with the Eagles. “I don’t have any bad blood against it. It’s just the business of it all. It’s the nature of the beast,” he said. “But right now, I have another mission. I have another city. I have a new city to embrace.” He added that he will save “the big cry” for retirement.
The trade surprised him. “Obviously, it kind of took everybody by surprise, not just me,” Davis said. He played against the Jaguars in London earlier this season and joked about watching them kick field goals: “It was a little sting to the heart, but it’s very funny how this league works.” Asked whether he had said anything to kicker Cam Little about it, he said, “Nah. I don’t want to gas him up.”
Back with Travon Walker
Davis is reunited with edge rusher Travon Walker, his teammate at Georgia, and his locker sits between Walker’s and Josh Hines-Allen’s. “It feels like school again. Obviously, we don’t have to go to class, but we replace those with meetings,” he said. “Everything’s better with a friend.” He said he talked plenty of trash with Walker in the offseason about who would win when their teams met, and now “we’re playing on the same team.”
On the playbook, he said the defensive structure is the same tree he played in with the Eagles, but the language is different and Jacksonville plays “a lot more fronts.” He was not ready to say whether he will play on Sunday. “I’m here to do whatever the coaches need me to do. Still figuring out a plan, still learning the playbook,” he said. He described defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile as “intense” and said he told him they would “pretty much be roommates for like the first two or three weeks.” Asked what Campanile’s first rule is, Davis said, “Stop the run.”
Davis said his role in the pass rush is to take away the quarterback’s step-up. “If I can do my part in eliminating the quarterback step-up and they can burn the edge,” he said of Walker and Hines-Allen, “and if it flows to me, then it’s on me to kind of scrape over the top.”
Godchaux: “Adapt or die”
Godchaux said head coach Kellen Moore called him with the news while he was in his condo in New Orleans with his wife. He asked if he could report the next day. “He was like, no, we need you here now,” Godchaux said, laughing. He flew from New Orleans to Houston and on to Jacksonville, and landed just before Davis. His family lives in South Florida, which he called a relief. It is his first in-season trade.
He knows Campanile from their time together with the Miami Dolphins under Brian Flores, when Campanile coached linebackers. “He always had a quote that said, ‘Adapt or die,’” Godchaux said of Flores. He said he is ready to play right away. “That’s the coach’s decision, but I’m ready. My number, I’m sure, is going to get called. That’s why they brought me here,” he said, adding that he wants the Jaguars to have the top run defense in the league. Jacksonville already has DaVon Hamilton on injured reserve with a quad injury.
Asked about the room filling up when the two walked into Liam Coen’s office, Godchaux laughed. “Jordan made me feel small. He made me feel small. This guy’s huge,” he said. “Every bit of 6-6, 330, 340. This guy’s huge and can move and can play.” He added a warning: “Just because we got Jordan Davis, just because we got me, just because we got Jessie Bates, we still got to go out there and prove it.”
Campanile: “A better fit for everything that we do”
Campanile spoke on Thursday. “It’s hard to imagine getting two better guys that are a better fit for everything that we do, you know, schematically one, and then two, just the type of guys they are,” he said. He called Godchaux “a throwback football player” and “a technician,” and said Davis is “phenomenal in every facet.” He said the main job this week is teaching the new players the terminology so they can “just line up and go play.”
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence also gave an early review of the newcomers on Wednesday.
General manager James Gladstone said on Tuesday that the three trades were not an “all-in move” but a way to keep improving during the season. All three deals are laid out in our Jaguars trades interactive. The Jaguars play the Titans in Nashville on Sunday, November 15.
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