3:02 pm | September 17, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Both Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said Monday that they have yet to speak to cornerback Vontae Davis since his sudden retirement during Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers but wish Davis well.
“I got a lot of respect for Vontae,” McDermott said. “He’s a good person. I certainly appreciate the way he worked when he was in here, but we’re moving forward as a football team. … You develop some personal relationships with these young men. You always want the best for them. It’s not a deal where we wish him anything but the best. We wish him the best. He’s had a heckuva career.
“There’s no need to address it [with the team]. We’re moving on. That’s what a team does. This is not going to become a distraction for us.”
Davis, 30, started and played the first half of the game before retiring at halftime with the Bills trailing 28-6. He was not seen on the field during the second half and was not spotted in the locker room after the game, a 31-20 win by the Chargers. Hours later, he released a statement that reality had hit him about his physical capability to continue playing the game.
“It’s more important for me and my family to walk away healthy than to willfully embrace the warrior mentality and limp away too late,” he wrote.
Davis tweeted, “ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME,” on Monday afternoon before deleting the tweet.
“His actions have spoken,” McDermott said. “He’s retired.”
McDermott said Davis remains on the Bills’ roster, but he and general manager Brandon Beane are discussing their personnel situation at cornerback. The Bills received a roster exemption for Davis on Monday, the team confirmed.
Although Davis said in his statement that he meant no disrespect to his teammates and coaches, linebacker Lorenzo Alexander called the midgame decision “completely disrespectful” to the team.
“We wish him nothing but the best,” Frazier said Monday. “I hope things work out for Vontae, whatever he chooses to do. Hopefully he’ll learn from this experience. I’m not sure what’s going on in his mind right now. I haven’t talked to him since yesterday at this point. But eventually I hope to get a chance to speak to him and wish him nothing but the best.”
Frazier, who said Monday that he was caught off-guard by the decision, added that he spoke to Davis on the bench before a series but did not specify when that occurred in the game.
“It wasn’t clear to me why he wasn’t ready to go back in,” Frazier said. “I thought he had an injury. I was waiting on the trainers or somebody to give me a cue or a clue as to what was going on. I had to get my mind back to the game. But then afterwards, of course, I learned more details as to what was going on.”
Davis signed a one-year deal with the Bills in February after being released by the Indianapolis Colts after a dispute about whether he was injured. Davis started each of the Bills’ first three preseason games but lost his starting job to Phillip Gaines and was a healthy scratch for the season opener.
After rookie slot cornerback Taron Johnson was injured in Week 1, Gaines moved to the slot for Sunday’s game against the Chargers, and Davis took his place in the starting lineup.
Gaines suffered a dislocated elbow Sunday but has a chance to play next Sunday at the Minnesota Vikings, McDermott said Monday.
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