NFL news: Washington Redskins' Vernon Davis retires
Washington Redskins' tight-end Vernon Davis has announced his retirement from the NFL.
The former first-round pick in 2006 had played for 14 seasons in the NFL before announcing his retirement prior to Superbowl 54. Davis was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in 2006, who just lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Superbowl on Sunday. Davis played 9 seasons with the 49ers before being traded in between his 10th season to the Denver Broncos, where he spent just one season there.
After his stint in Denver, Davis signed a one-year contract with the Redskins in 2016. While he was deployed as a backup to current Redskins' tight end Jordan Reed, he was used heavily due to the injuries Reed suffered. In fact, Reed suffered several injuries to the point where Davis started in 14 of 16 games in 2016.
Fast-forward to 2017, Davis was the number 1 tight-end for the Redskins after Reed suffered more injuries yet again. While Reed was certainly a young guy with a huge capacity of being a threat, Davis didn't show his age when on the field. He had a total of 648 receiving yards, the most yards he had since his 2013 season with the 49ers.
Unfortunately though, the injury bug was passed onto Davis. In 2018, he played just 8 games and totaled 367 receiving yards. But the worst part comes where Davis is retiring after a horrible season for him. While he was the starting tight-end, Davis played just 4 games Bering being placed on injured reserve due to a concussion.
That concussion was enough for Davis to decide to retire, even thought he stated he could play for another six or seven years. Davis said:
It's been a long career, and because of the concussions that I've had, I feel like it's about that time. And if it wasn't because of the concussions, I'd probably be playing another six or seven more years"
Davis retires as a Superbowl champion and a 2-time Pro-Bowler. With Davis gone now, the Redskins will certainly need to sign a veteran tight-end soon.