It's Welcome Home Year for the Jets as LB Demario Davis has become one of several players who have played in North Jersey either on the pro, college or high school level, left for other regions of the country, then returned to join the Jets this week as the free agency signing period began. Here are five areas of interest regarding Davis:

Third Time Is, Well, the Charm
This is actually Davis' third hitch with the Green & White. He began his pro career as the Jets' third-round choice out of Arkansas State in 2012 and played his first four seasons as a Jets LB.

DD became a UFA following the 2015 season and signed a two-year contract with the Browns. But after one year and three months, in June 2016, the Browns traded Davis back to the Jets for former first-round S Calvin Pryor, who never played a down for the Browns and was out of the NFL at the end of that season.

Davis, meanwhile, rocked on with the Jets in 2017, then left as a UFA again for New Orleans, for whom he played the past eight seasons.

Just in time, at the age of 37 and starting his 15th NFL season, to sign on for a third tour of duty with the Jets.

Tackling Machine ...
Davis has shown he can do it all from his LB post. He has 61 career pass defenses and 4 interceptions. He's forced 6 fumbles and recovered 9. He's not a big sacker, yet has 45 takedowns and 104 QB hits in his career, with a current streak of at least 0.5 sacks and at least 2 QB hits in 13 straight seasons.

But Davis first and foremost tackles the other guys with the ball. He has 1,536 total tackles in his career, which includes current streaks of 13 consecutive 90-tackle seasons and nine straight 100-tackle campaigns. And his 143 takedowns last season for the Saints were a career high.

... Made of Iron
Davis' participation numbers are mind-blowing. He's played in every regular-season game except two in his 14-year career, 227 in all (and 80 of those as a Jet). In the last 13 of those seasons, he's started all but three of those games, for 210 starts from 2013.

As for plays,.**according to Pro Football Reference**, he's logged 13,423 defensive snaps in his career, plus another 997 on special teams. Where more than a few players are happy just to get to 1,000 snaps in one NFL season, Davis has averaged 1,030 total snaps a season and is still going.

A Man of Honors
Davis is no stranger to late-season team awards. As a Jet, he twice won the Dennis Byrd Award. in 2013 and again in '17, as the most inspirational teammate.

Then with the Saints, he seemed to find his niche and it was as a three-time winner as the team's nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the league's most prestigious honor, recognizing players who excel on the field and demonstrate a steadfast commitment to creating a positive impact beyond the game.

Demario Knows Walter
Davis, as an eight-time Saints captain and three-time nominee for the national Payton award, knows all about the honor because he's been well acquainted with the legendary Bears RB since he was a kid.

"Walter Payton the football player was always someone I looked up to," Davis has said of his fellow Mississippian. "As I got older, learning about the things he did in the community only increased my respect of him even more. Through my Devoted Dreamers Foundation, we are more committed than ever to develop youth to become dynamic young men and women who will lead this community into the future."

Davis, along with his wife, Tamela, founded the foundation and launched the Devoted Dreamers Academy, a youth leadership and development program designed to equip students with tools for success through education, mentorship, character building and life skills.