PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Kyle Hamilton or Jordan Davis? A sliding doors scenario for the Eagles from 2022 NFL Draft 1st round

Episode Date: July 5, 2025

The Eagles could have taken Kyle Hamilton. They selected Jordan Davis. Fran Duffy offers his scouting reports from 2022 and discusses what could have been for the Eagles with Zach Berman. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2022. Howie Roseman is navigating the first round. He's been talking to John Robinson, the GM of the Tennessee Titans about acquiring A.J. Brown. There's a big need of wide receiver. There's also a big need at safety. The Eagles are there. They have a mid-first round pick, but Kyle Hamilton's lingering on the board. So is Jordan Davis, national champion. defense tackle. Combine freak of nature. You don't find guys like this walking around very often. Howie Roseman places a call with Nick Casario of the Houston Texans, and he moves up to get the number 13 overall pick. And he's choosing between Jordan Davis and Kyle Hamilton. And the Eagles' organizational emphasis is on the defensive line. And Howie Roseman takes Jordan Davis one pick later, the Baltimore Ravens,

take Kyle Hamilton. Right. Fran Duffy, your scouting reports on both those players, and the sliding door scenario, if the Eagles were to take, Kyle Hamilton, in the first round of the draft. Yeah, I mean, I had Jordan Davis who grew on me as the process went on.

You know, I try not to let the combine, you know, and what happens there affect me too much, like they move the needle too far. I will say that Davis is one where it definitely did swing me because they're just, as you mentioned, like there aren't many people in the history of the draft and recent memory who are that big who tests like that, right? And so when you see that upside, and also when you combine that with the character and like Jordan Davis, like, yeah, like,

there were certainly issues with his weight and things like that at Georgia. But everyone you talk to, was with him in that building over the course of his career there. It's four years down there in Athens. It's like, yeah, he's a great kid. Everybody loves him. Everybody loves being around him. It's not a work ethic thing. you know, he's just got to get some things in order there. You know, I think that when you're looking at Jordan Davis, like there was reason to believe that, hey, you know what, I know he didn't always show it in college, but this guy's got the ability to reach his upside. And so for me, just kind of looking at the pluses and minuses from my report, rare size, tall, thick, hulking frame, very unproductive throughout his career, but he had alien-like movements for a guy his size, tested like one of the best athletes in Combine history and showed better range that you expect for a guy that looks like. like he does. Some of those plays, we all remember the play that he made against Buffalo in 2023 where he's chasing Josh Allen out of bounds. There were a few of those plays throughout

his career, Georgia as well. He had power for days, pocket pusher who slowly but surely could impact the quarterback. He would just constantly just push and push, run his feet and eventually get there. Strong as an ox, very tough to move off his spot in the run game. Didn't not have a deep array of moves as a pass rusher, didn't have a really developed pass rush plan, as I like to mention natural issues with leverage. You know, I had over six foot in a quarter. You had trouble with staying low. That said, he always attacked blocks with light hand or with tight hands, really heavy

handed on contact. Again, was just very tough to move. Double teams didn't get them off a spot either. My final summary here for Jordan Davis, three-year starter at nose tackle and Kirby Smart defense, who was platooned inside and was on the sideline for most third downs. But that's the extent of how he can be used in the, that's not the extent, rather, of how he can be used in the NFL. Extremely strong and powerful.

He wins with sheer mass and brute strength in college, and that will carry him over into the NFL. But he's also one of the most explosive athletic specimens in recent memory. Fits best in a two-gap scheme for a defense that lives in lighter boxes, where he can steal back gaps and make an impact in the run game. That's a given from day one. If he gets into a scheme that allows him to cut it loose and play up field more often, then the potential is there for him to be a dominant three-down player,

good starter, ceiling to be a quality starter, that's just kind of verbiage from my grading scale, high floor, high ceiling. So that's how I viewed Jordan Davis. He ended up being a top 15 player for me in this class. Now, my number four player in the class overall was Kyle Hamilton. So to me, like I did prefer Hamilton in that spot. And you mentioned like just the precility to go more towards the line of scrimmage

is why the Eagles went this direction. But for me for Kyle Hamilton, this is a guy that I noticed on film from his like freshman year on. You just see this guy flying around that Notre Dame secondary. It was just really, really taken aback by his skill set. Rare size for the position, consistently chases down from the backside, very tough, physical, violent player. Athletically, he had the suddenness to eat up ground and close fast. He was a little bit leggy. There's a little bit times where he looked a little bit stiff. I say leggy, like all arms and legs. Gears up and down on command, though, with ease. And he's able to govern his speed.

There would be times where he'd be running the alley, you know, running in playing deep down the field. come down close to the line of scrimmage. You see him speed up, speed down, come to balance, and then he's got to speed back up again. So the athleticism was all there, change the numbers game in the box in a flash from depth. So he would go from A to B. And it's like, all right, it's a light box. Then all of a sudden, bam, like he's downhill, you know, in a flash and he's there to be able to make the play. Very good play strength. Stout on contact, very powerful striker as a tackler. He could get a little bit grabby mid-rout when he was in man-to-man coverage against tight ends and against bigger wide

receivers. I thought wide receivers in the NFL would probably eat him up. Not a guy would probably matched in the slot against wide outs all that often. But he was an enforcer over the middle versus crossing routes, showed that ability to impact the catch point. And he was a finisher on the ball, consistently productive and had that ability to take the ball away from the offense. In the run game, good angles to the football, attacks with pace and discipline, violent finisher, like I said, had the ability to meet ball carriers with his chest at full speed. The final summary there for Hamilton, to your starter. in their quarter scheme there for the Irish,

where he played both safety spots, tall, long defensive back with the unique size for the position and traits to go with it. Explosive athlete who could eat up grass to close quickly on the ball, at his best in zone coverage, where he's both disciplined and rangy to disrupt the catch point. He's got the traits to match up against tight ends, but he's also shown some mixed results so far in man-to-man,

thunderous alley defender who really improved as a tackler throughout his career. He's got a nose for the ball, plays with a violent, relentless demeanor. This is a starting safety who is best cast in a zone scheme, more of a traditional strong safety, who's at his best attack in the line of scrimmage, but he is not a liability in coverage whatsoever.

So I had a higher grade overall on Hamilton. There were questions a little bit about both. Obviously, you're talking about two non-primary positions when you're talking about like nose tackle versus and strong safety. But, yeah, I had high grades on both players, but I like to Hamilton a little bit more. First off, outstanding. outstanding scouting reports there.

I am no Fran Duffy. Quick to admit that. But because this is all documented, back then, myself, Bo Wolf, Shio Copadia, would rank our Eagles options.

And I rank Kyle Hamilton the number one Eagles option that year. And my summary was this. Don't overthink this. He's an elite player and could change the Eagle secondary. Hamilton checks so many boxes. Production, size, size, range, instincts, ball skills. If the knock on him is an undesirable

fort a time, then it's easy to rationalize because speed does not appear to be an issue on the field. The teams have GPS data that could offer a more advanced measurement of his speed. Hamilton would be a dream scenario and would be one of the team's best players from the first day of training camp. Now, in my mock draft that year,

I had the Eagles going with Jordan Davis. And in my draft grade, I said, I would have gone with Kyle Hamilton, but I'm not, not knocking them for Jordan Davis because I understand the organizational philosophy. That's how I thought about it exactly. Yep. Yeah. And so it's it's the way they're always going to think that things being equal or near equal, they'll go for the upside of the player on the line of scrimmage, whether it's the O line or the D line over the safety or the linebacker or the tight end or the running back, right?

It's simply, and it's served them well in the organization. The interesting thing is when you look at the sliding door scenario here. Number one, they don't trade for C.J. Garner Johnson that, that summer, right? You have Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Epps as your starting safeties, presumably. Kyle Hamilton turns into, I still believe he's a different space. I think he's one of these players. He went to a great infrastructure in Baltimore, no doubt. But I think he's that good wherever he ends up. And I think the Eagles defense still makes the Super Bowl in 2022, right? Like, you know, it wasn't as if Jordan Davis propelled them there. The one, you know, so I think the side door scenario will be just fine for the Eagles, right?

And maybe even better. The one thing I'm curious about, and there's really no way of saying this, is like the human dynamic that comes with all the Georgia players. Jalen Carter is a blue chip player for the Eagles right now. Does Jalen Carter have the same fit here without Jordan Davis? That's probably a stretch, right? I said, I mean, Jordan, you know, you know, Jalen Carter, It's probably one of these guys.

She's great wherever he goes. But that's probably the only, like, ramification that I could say makes me think more toward Jordan Davis than Kyle Hamilton. But I got to go Kyle Hamilton here.