Jarrad Davis walked the runway Friday night with a familiar look in his eyes and a patented gap-toothed smile that never seems to fade.
On Friday, the Detroit Lions brought Davis back to the team after their 2017 first-round pick spent a year with the New York Jets. Davis’ time in Detroit didn’t go too well during the first four years of his career in blue Honolulu. After a promising start in his rookie season, Davis failed to develop his overt athletic ability and was eventually moved to a rotational role before the team decided not to re-sign him after his rookie contract was awarded the previous offseason.
There were many reasons why Davis never developed, but dealing with injuries was a constant problem when he was a pro. An ankle injury cost him five games in 2019 and he missed the first half of the 2021 season with the Jets with another injury. However, it wasn’t just the lost time that hurt Davis’ development. The 27-year-old midfielder visibly regrets some of those ailments, but understands that he now has to live with a reputation as a struggling player.
“Just playing with injuries was something I had to really understand, that it’s not always the right way to go,” Davis said at his opening press conference on Friday. “As an athlete, as a footballer, I want to be there no matter what, but over the years of trying to make it, I really learned that this is not the way to go. This is what I have to own as a player. I must be real. After all, your ribbon is king. What people see on the outside is what they end up calling you for, and that’s okay.”
The return to Detroit clearly means a lot to Davis. He called it “the place that pretty much raised me” and noted that his time away from Detroit made him miss it more.
“Every time (in Detroit) it wasn’t always a good time, but I tell you, the ball here is fun,” Davis said. “I love playing in this stadium, I love being in this city, I love seeing the summer in Michigan. Winters, I’m still learning, still trying to grow up, but I love this place, I really do. I am really. And it just feels right. Just thinking about being here again just feels right more than anything.”
The Lions will task their highly regarded coaching staff with revealing some of the qualities that Davis has shown in flashes over the past five years. Head coach Dan Campbell noted Davis’ potential last year before ultimately deciding not to re-sign him in 2021.
“Jarrad Davis, there’s something about this guy, man,” Campbell told The Detroit News last February. “I heard about how he was trained, and just knowing his ability and aggressiveness, he intrigues me. He comes off the tape and you feel like we can help this guy? Can we make this guy a better player?”
Unfortunately for Davis, his time with the Jets and defense guru Robert Saleh didn’t go much better. Once again, Davis had to deal with a lot of negative criticism of his game. Although he admits that it is difficult to completely drown out this noise, he has learned to get rid of it.
“It’s not easy as a football player to go out and work hard every day of the week, week after week, and come home without the desired result,” Davis said. “So I had to learn to really balance and understand that this wasn’t going to happen overnight.”
Davis believes he could benefit from a coaching staff full of former players, including his new coach, Calvin Sheppard, who briefly played alongside Davis in 2018.
“It’s a different role now, a different dynamic,” Davis said. “He’s a coach and I’m a player, but at the same time, he’s the kind of person that I’m comfortable going to and talking to and just saying, ‘Hey bro, I need you to push me more’ or ‘Hey dude, I’m this I do not understand. And feeling nothing about it, because we have already laid this foundation. I think it’s really special, you know? I don’t know many guys who actually ever had to do this. I am very grateful for this opportunity.”
Davis knows he won’t necessarily be given the opportunity, as he was in the team’s first round five years ago. Detroit doesn’t have room for linebackers by any means – and he could certainly win himself a starting role – but he won’t hesitate. However, Davis doesn’t seem to mind, as he believes this challenge will bring out the best in him. He wasn’t a four-year freshman in high school and didn’t get a chance to shine in Florida until his freshman year. He knows what it means to deserve it.
“I’ve had to overcome so many things and this is just one more thing in my life,” Davis said. “And it excites me because I have told people many times that it is not always easy to be on top of a mountain. It’s not always easy. As for me, all my life I have loved hunting, I have loved climbing. I appreciate it. I appreciate how much it helps me the best.”
And with an all-new coaching staff, a new defensive scheme and a fresh outlook on his own life, he’s ready to step into a familiar place with a renewed mindset.
“Honestly, it looks brand new. It’s amazing how life works. You step back from something or step away from something and you feel like you don’t know what will happen after you turn your back and walk out the door. You don’t know if that door will open again. You don’t know what he will keep. You don’t know what a reunion looks like. You don’t know if there will be a reunion at all. But it’s amazing to be able to come back to this building and be able to work. I love it. This place is so familiar. I know it. There are people in the city that I know, they can help me to become a better player, to become a better player. There are so many things that excite me when I return to Detroit. It’s just a matter of focus and getting the job done.”