Over the next few months, we’ll be breaking down all of the players added by the Jets during free agency and in the legal tampering window. We begin today with linebacker Demario Davis.
Davis, who is now 37, is returning to the Jets for a third stint with the team, having spent his last eight seasons establishing himself as one of the NFL’s best linebackers in New Orleans. We’ll recap his career but our analysis will try to focus on what he has left in the tank and still brings to the table.
Background
Davis spent most of his high school career as a wide receiver so wasn’t a heavily-recruited linebacker prospect coming out of high school and opted to go to Arkansas State where he redshirted his first season in 2007.
After a year in a reserve role that saw him register 17 tackles and a fumble return for a touchdown in 11 games, Davis moved into the starting role as a redshirt sophomore and had 80 tackles, three sacks and a pick-six.
In each of the next two seasons, he earned all-Sun Belt first team honors as he had 60 tackles and two interceptions in 2010 and 69 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and three sacks in 2011.
The Jets ultimately drafted Davis in 2012 and he backed up Bart Scott as a rookie, as he ended up making three starts and recording 36 tackles but no impact plays.
He was a full-time starter in 2013 and had 106 tackles, then was productive in 2014 with 116 tackles, 3.5 sacks and five pass breakups. However, the team started to lose faith in him during the 2015 season and he was phased out towards the end of the year, ending up with 90 tackles.
Despite the way the 2015 season ended, Davis said he wanted to return to the Jets and viewed New York as home, but they didn’t offer him a contract and he signed a two-year deal with the Browns.
His one year with Cleveland went similarly to his final year with the Jets, as he was productive with 99 tackles but lost playing time down the stretch. When the Browns planned a scheme change in 2017, he became expendable and the Jets re-acquired him in a trade for Calvin Pryor.
In a slightly different role to the one he had before leaving, Davis thrived and put together the best year of his career. He led the league with 97 solo tackles (135 total) and posted career-highs with 15 quarterback hits, 13 tackles for loss and five sacks.
However, the Jets were unable to retain him and he headed to New Orleans where he would continue to play at a high level to make letting him leave look like a mistake.
He had over 100 tackles in all eight seasons with the Saints, during which he was a first team all-pro once and a second-teamer four times. He went to two pro bowls and set career marks in 2019 with 12 pass breakups, 2022 with 6.5 sacks and 2025 with 143 tackles.
The Saints also made the postseason in the first three years Davis was with the team and went 2-3 in those games as he had 43 tackles, a sack and an interception.
He now returns to the Jets on a two-year free agent deal worth a reported $22 million.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Davis brings to the table, based on in-depth research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Davis weighed in at 239 at the scouting combine but his listed weight was increased to 248 a few years into his career; a sure sign that he had bulked up for the pro game. He did note ahead of his first return to the Jets that he had lost five pounds and was feeling lighter and healthier than ever though.
At his pro day workout, Davis ran an impressive 4.52 in the 40-yard dash and posted good explosiveness numbers, although this was 15 years ago and he is bulkier these days. His agility numbers were less impressive but he displayed good strength with 32 bench press reps.
Usage
Davis began his career as Bart Scott’s replacement alongside David Harris, so his role often entailed taking on blocks and occasionally matching up with tight ends in coverage.
Towards the end of his first stint with the team, Davis saw his role change having previously been an every-down player. He blitzed more frequently as the team seemed keen not to expose him to coverage matchups and then, towards the end of the season, started losing playing time to Erin Henderson.
His role started to evolve with the Browns, who opted to use him at the Mike position, so his primary coverage responsibilities entailed sitting underneath and limiting yardage on short passes. However, he once again moved from a full-time role to a part-time role as the season went on.
His return to the Jets saw him paired with Darron Lee, which meant he had more responsibility for communication and defensive playcalling as the primary Mike. This then became his full-time role when he moved to the Saints.
Run Defense
Davis has been one of the most consistent linebackers against the run for the past several years but it’s encouraging to note that analysis site Pro Football Focus gave him the highest run defense grade of his career in 2025. This was good for sixth-best among all qualifying linebackers.
He is constantly around the football, rarely gets stuck on a block and if he’s lost a step in pursuit he makes up for it with his instant play recognition.
Coverage
There is some concern that Davis’ coverage abilities are slipping, which could be a problem if he needs to be on the field with the headset all of the time but starts to become a defensive liability.
A look at his coverage numbers from last season could cause some initial alarm as he gave up 45 catches on 48 targets, although on average these were less than two yards down the field so it clearly includes a lot of screen passes where he was simply first to the ball carrier. As long as he is limiting the yardage after the catch, he’ll be providing the Jets with a big upgrade in an area where they really struggled last year.
It’s more encouraging to note that the longest play he gave up over the past seven seasons was a 27-yarder. This speaks to the fact he’ll be passing off downfield routes to the likes of Minkah Fitzpatrick with the Jets this time around. Davis has also only given up six touchdowns in coverage over the past five seasons.
As a former high school receiver, Davis has good on-ball production with 61 career pass breakups. While 12 in 2019 was his highest ever in a season, he had seven in 2024 which is tied for the second most. He had four interceptions in 2022 but only has one other interception in his career (or two if you include playoff games).
In his career, Davis has been called for illegal contact twice, defensive holding five times and defensive pass interference seven times.
Tackling
Davis has obviously always been a productive tackler, as he has over 1,500 tackles in his NFL career. He even posted a career-high just last season.
His tackle efficiency rates have always been solid too, although he did miss 17 tackles last season to tie his highest total.
Perhaps surprisingly, Davis only forced three fumbles in his first 11 seasons but he does have three forced fumbles in the past three seasons, including two last year.
Blitzing
Davis has been productive as a blitzer over the course of his career, racking up 45 career sacks, although it often works out to be less-is-more in terms of his pressure percentages.
After Dennis Allen moved from defensive coordinator to head coach, Davis’ blitz rates almost halved but he posted a career-high 6.5 sacks in 2022 and 2023. The blitz rate has remained lower since then but he had just two sacks in 2024 and 0.5 last year.
Special Teams
Davis paid his dues as a special teamer earlier on in his career but hasn’t been expected to do it in recent years. He played just 30 special teams snaps in eight seasons with the Saints, including none at all in the past two years.
Earlier on in his career, he was adept at this, racking up 15 special teams tackles in his rookie year alone.
Physicality
Davis’ physicality was the most impressive thing about his college game film, initially making him the ideal prospect to try and develop to play Scott’s role. In Rex Ryan’s system, Scott would attack the line of scrimmage, often seeking out the lead blocker and creating a collision that would screw up the blocking scheme and create room for the likes of Harris to clean up behind him and Davis was capable of the same.
It took a while for Davis to adjust to no longer having such an attacking mindset and being required to go sideline-to-sideline and be reactive but he mastered it over time.
That doesn’t mean he became any less physical though. The natural evolution of the game has dictated that Mike linebackers need to be able to fight off blocks rather than being smaller Jonathan Vilma types that you would seek to keep clean.
Instincts
This is the area where Davis has shown the most development over the course of his career. His initial time with the Jets involved him often being a step slow to react, occasionally being fooled by misdirection and involved in blown assignments in coverage.
Since moving into the Mike role, Davis has mastered his craft and developed into one of the most consistent defensive players in the league in terms of his play recognition and positional sense.
Davis is of course well equipped to wear the defensive headset, which he did throughout his time in New Orleans. While he didn’t do this in Cleveland, he was said to be instrumental in preparing Christian Kirksey to do so, then came to the Jets and worked with Lee in a similar fashion. Whether he will take those duties off Jamien Sherwood’s plate remains to be seen but Sherwood should benefit from having him alongside him either way.
Attitude/Demeanor
Davis comes from a military background and is a devout Christian whose leadership, attitude and character have been lauded by teammates and coaches wherever he has played. He’s also done a lot for the community, as a three-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee.
The closest he’s been to an off-field scandal was when he was fined for wearing a headband emblazoned with a message that said “Man of God” – which the league rescinded anyway.
He should serve as an excellent mentor for the likes of Kiko Mauigoa and Kobe King, who could develop into serviceable contributors under his tutelage.
Davis’ on-field discipline has been good throughout his career as he’s averaged just two penalties per season and never had more than four in any one year. He does have 10 personal fouls in his career, though. His six penalties over the past four seasons include two for defensive holding and two for roughing the passer.
Injuries
Davis is 37, so there is obviously going to be a concern that he could break down soon.
However, he’s been one of the most durable defensive players in the league during his 14-year career, missing just one game due to injury – a hamstring issue in 2024 – despite mostly playing a full-time role.
He previously missed one other game in his career but that was due to COVID-19 rather than an injury.
Scheme Fit
Davis has experience in both 3-4 and 4-3 systems, although the Browns’ decision to cut ties with him was because they were moving to a 4-3. However, that may have had more to do with the fact that they had spent the past year grooming Kirksey to be the every-down defensive quarterback so there wasn’t room for both of them.
Under Dennis Allen, the Saints operated a 4-3 system in which Davis thrived. Aaron Glenn was also on that coaching staff, of course, and his defense operated in similar fashion last season, although it may evolve into something more multiple from this year onwards.
Brandon Staley started to work in more 3-4 looks since Allen was fired as head coach midway through the 2024 season.
Davis reunites with two of his former Jets teammates by returning the New York: Quarterback Geno Smith and long snapper Thomas Hennessy.
Conclusions
It’s easy to reflect on the success Davis has had over the past several years with a sense of regret at a disastrous missed opportunity by the Jets. However, he was a much-maligned player during his first go-round with the team and it was always going to be difficult to retain him after his breakout in 2017 because the Jets had limited resources at the time and were committed to Lee as the defensive quarterback of the future.
He has clearly adapted well to being a full-time Mike linebacker which was the real key to him turning his career around.
It would be easy to doom-monger and suggest that since Davis is so old it’s inevitable his play will take a downturn over the next two seasons but at the same time this isn’t just a guy who is barely hanging in there in terms of being a serviceable player. He’s still really good!
Of all the problems the Jets had last year on defense, the linebacker performance and the back-seven communication was arguably one of the worst issues. Davis should definitely help the Jets in these areas, which will hopefully have a knock-on effect on the team’s ability to generate pressure and force turnovers.
