Jonathan Gannon Devising Ways to Use Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and Others

The Eagles DC has plenty of new pieces for his defense, but finding the best fits for the Georgia kids and Haason Reddick is no doubt high on his list

PHILADELPHIA – Jonathan Gannon is back in the Eagles’ laboratory cooking up ways to use the new pieces GM Howie Roseman delivered to his doorstep, so far, during the offseason.

The Eagles defensive coordinator almost didn’t get a chance to play mad scientist after an offseason that saw him interview for two head coaching gigs, an experience he called “humbling.”

“Just excited about being in the seat that I'm in right now,” Gannon added on Tuesday. “Learned a lot from it, but that's kind of in the past and I'm focused on right now getting our players better.”

The plan for those Georgia kids, Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean, is heating up in a beaker now. 

No doubt, the Eagles defensive coordinator will be cross-training Dean inside and outside.

“Nakobe is a high, high football character, highly intelligent, versatile, production was obviously through the roof,” said Gannon on Tuesday. “Excited to add him to that room.”

Dean was a surprise third-round selection in the draft after the expectation was that he would be gone by the time the first round ended.

Davis, of course, was the player the Eagles coveted and moved up two spots to take in the first round.

There were some concerns over the selection, such as his conditioning and not being a three-down player for the national champion Bulldogs.

Earlier this month Davis said he weighed 345 pounds and wants to play in the 330s, taking some of the edge off that criticism.

Gannon took care of the other part about Davis not being capable of rushing the quarterback. He had just two sacks in his final season at Georgia and only seven in his four years there.

“At that place (Georgia), obviously they play really good football there, they didn't ask him to do that a lot,” said Gannon, “but he definitely has the skill set to do that when you start looking at how he moves and his body and his traits. He definitely will project to affect the game in the pass game, as well.”

The DC added, “He's a big, explosive, violent man that can win one-on-one, so yes, he will definitely have a role in the passing game, and he will affect the quarterback in a good way. Excited about his skill set and what he can do in the run and pass game. There are going to be certain times where we let him cut his ears back and rush.”

In another beaker next to Davis and Dean is Haason Reddick, the pass-rush specialist who has 23.5 sacks the past two seasons and could become the first Eagles defensive player to record a double-digit sack season since Fletcher Cox had 10.5 four years ago.

“He's obviously very, very smart, very intelligent, high football character, very good skill set, versatile player, and it's our job to deploy him and to affect the game, to accentuate his skill set,” said Gannon about Reddick.

The Eagles are about to enter phase three of the offseason with OTAs set to begin Tuesday, May 31, and continue on June 2 and 3 and into the following week. That means the heat will be turned up even higher as more and more moving parts inside Gannon’s lab are shuffled in order to find out what mixes well and what doesn’t.

“It's our job to kind of piece it together over this next four or five weeks, six weeks,” he said, “and then we get into training camp, hit the ground running, and put them in the right position to be successful.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.