Demario Davis has been in this spot before. Plenty of times.
This season opener Sunday in Nashville against the Titans will mark his 15th.
But when asked Thursday about his favorite opening day and memories, Davis’ answer was succinct.
“Hopefully, this one will be the best one,” he said. “Any opening day where you get the victory is worth looking forward to.”
When the Jets take the field for their first defensive drive Sunday, Davis, a constant for any team he has played for, will officially return to his spot at linebacker for Gang Green.
A common storyline of the offseason — the 37-year-old returning for his third stint and sixth season with the Jets — will become a reality.
And Davis, just seasons removed from consecutive Pro Bowl appearances in 2022 and ’23 with the Saints, will have a chance to keep defying Father Time, to write another chapter instead of nostalgically reflecting on the past.
“I think I still have the enjoyment of a rookie,” Davis said. “My excitement to come into work each and every day, to be able to live out my dream, I never take a moment, a day that I walk into this moment for granted, a day that I step out onto that field for granted.
“But I am the accumulation of 15 years of football, being around a lot of great vets, playing in a lot of games, been in a lot of situations, so just being able to use all that wisdom and accumulation and still find ways to get better and put that on display when it matters most is what I’m excited to do.”
Before a hamstring injury in 2024, Davis had missed just one other game — a December 2021 contest for the Saints while on the reserve/COVID-19 list — since getting his first chance with the Jets in 2012.
Even in 2025, while 36 years old and in his eighth season with New Orleans, Davis led the Saints with a career-high 143 tackles.
“I’ve heard about what kind of guy he was,” defensive coordinator Brian Duker said of Davis. “I just hadn’t experienced it. … He lived up to his reputation, and I thought he was going to be great — and he’s been great.”
This time with the Jets, he’s technically one of the newcomers in a defense filled with them.
He said Thursday that they’ve established chemistry, but the Titans will challenge them Sunday.
Second-year quarterback Cam Ward, Davis said, impressed him during a Saints-Titans game last year because of his composure and ability to extend plays.
That layer — of whether Davis can help the Jets contain the Titans — will serve as the main event.
But at the macro level of this Gang Green season, and anything that transpires defensively Sunday, will be the return of Davis off one of the best statistical seasons of his career with the potential for more.
“I’ve been extremely blessed to play this game as long as I have and have the type of career that I’ve had and be able to have the durability that I’ve been able to have,” Davis said.
