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Former Browns RB James Davis Decides to Leave Redskins Camp

Where in the world is running back James Davis, who is a member of the Washington Redskins?

"I don’t know," Shanahan said following Tuesday morning’s practice. "If you see him, let me know because I was wondering where he was at, too. I don’t know where he was at. Missing in action."

"I think he’s retired from football. That’s my guess." Shanahan said he believed Davis was in Atlanta and was prepared to walk away from football. He said the team has not released the third-year back.

If you don't remember, Davis was a sixth-round draft pick for the Browns during the 2009 draft. He suffered an early season-ending injury that year, and in 2010, he was released. At the time, Davis seemed to indicate on his Twitter account that he had asked to be released by the Browns, probably due to his lack of playing time in Cleveland. That might be the case in Washington too since he did not see a single carry in the Redskins' first preseason game against Pittsburgh.

Star-divide

Davis abruptly left a meeting Sunday night at Redskins Park, according to a report by ESPN 980, because he was unhappy with his playing time. Davis took to Twitter on Tuesday morning and said, "Please do not believe everything you here (sic) people. The story will be released soon. The real truth of the story."

We don't know Davis' side of the story yet, but the rumors make it sound like Davis doesn't want to continue competing in the league if he doesn't feel he's going to end up receiving any playing time.

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Comments

This sucks to see as a Clemson fan. God, I hope CJ can do something in Buffalo.

Maybe we should bring him back in. Even with injuries to our running backs last season, Mangini didn’t even try to use him. He could be a good change of pace back or even a speedy backfield receiving option like Reggie Bush.

Thus just in – nobody wants him.

Modern football has completely marginalized the elite tailback. Most OCs feel that if they build their schemes as well as offensive line correctly, they can plug anyone in there. GMs love this because elite RBs cost so much money, and yet provide just a few short years of peak productivity.

As an aside, I think Peyton Hillis is great, but I don’t think he’s thinking for a second that he’s going to be a starting running back in 5 years.

Err, guaranteed to be a starting back in 5 years.

He probably thinks he will, but he likely won’t be.

For example, Chris Johnson thinking he should be one of the highest paid players in the league. No Thanks.

I can see it from the perspective of a runningback. You have about 3 peak earning years, following by 3-5 more years as a backup/short yardage back. In that 6-8 year timespan, you need to make enough money to retire on.

Can you imagine retiring at age 30 with $5 million in the bank? Not as trivial as you might think…

Sure from the player perspective you need as much guaranteed money as you can get. But from the team’s long term perspective, no thanks.

You have about 3 peak earning years

No you don’t, you have as many peak earning years as you can convince teams to sign you for.

RB’s careers are short, for sure. Johnson won’t become the top paid player in the league, but he could get a long contract that pays him a lot more than he’s worth once he gets older. I think the Titans should offer him incentives to become the highest paid player in the league if he plays like it: break 2000 yards, get a bonus. Make the all-pro team, get a bonus. Break 2500 yards, get a really big bonus. Have over 5.0 ypc, get a bonus.

I agree that’s how the Titans should deal with it… give him a high upside, incentive laden contract that makes a big splash but is also strongly hedged against a decline in performance.

Reggie Bush has more talent in his dreams than James Davis does in reality. Not even close in speed and pure football talent. When I lived in Clemson country I knew he wouldn’t amount to much in the NFL.

Agreed. Comparing James Davis to Reggie Bush is a bit of a stretch.

A bit, but not a lot.

Vehemenently disagree….Reggie Bush has the ability to contribute. Now ay James Davis will ever contribute. Players like Terrell Davis were rare at best. Not everyone drafted in the sixth round could do what Terrell did. There is a reason James Davis was a low draft pick and Reggie Bush was as high as he was. Reggie may not have been the impact player he was anticiapted as being, but I sure would have liked to see him wearing Brown and Orange this year before I would a career non-contributor like James Davis.

Damn typos….No way

A bit, but not a lot.

No. A lot.

I think Brandon Jackson would be just slightly worse than Bush for New Orleans. The players around him make him look passable, but I really don’t think Reggie Bush is very good.

OK. That’s insane. Bush demanded a ton of attention from defenses in New Orleans freeing up a lot of other guys. Brandon Jackson does not demand that attention in the least bit.

Moreover, comparing James Davis to Brandon Jackson is still a lot of a stretch. James Davis sucks.

Bush demanded a ton of attention from defenses in New Orleans freeing up a lot of other guys.

I think you’ve got this totally backwards. People are so concerned with Brees and their receivers that Bush can get put in good positions with favorable match-ups. Bush benefits from their other guys, not the other way around.

Jackson: 3.8 YPC, 7.7 YPReception
Bush: 4.0 YPC, 7.3 YPR

So yeah, it’s crazy to compare those two right? On top of that, I’m sure Bush blocks as well as Jackson, right?

Jacskon also has over a hundred less receptions than Bush too so that is an irrelavant stat

That’s why I did yards per reception instead of total yards. Jackson wasn’t featured as heavily as Bush in his team’s offense, but when he got the ball he was every bit as productive as Bush. This backs up my statement that if Jackson played in New Orleans he would only be slightly worse than Bush.

In fact, I could be saying that he wouldn’t be any worse, and the stats would support me.

Was Jackson not “featured as heavily as Bush,” or is Jackson just not as capable of of receiving out of the backfield as Bush is?

Boom. Bush creates mismatches with the defense, Jackson…eh, not nearly as much.

I’d say most linebackers won’t be able to shut Jackson down one on one.

Bush, beats safeties as well, not just LB’s. I’m not saying Jackson isn’t good, just saying that Bush creates a better mismatch.

I agree. as a defense, are you going to be more worried about them handing it off to Bush or for Brees to throw it to any one of his WRs. I worry about Brees, and as long as the D keeps bush in front of them, he is a very secondary threat on that offense.

Well, considering he has Chad Henne throwing to him now, it could ruin his career. I still say it would have been nice to see Colt throwing to him.

Hey I would have loved to see Bush here, but he’s not much better than Jackson.

i prefer shaved

I literally just busted out laughing at the office. Classic!

i agree with you on Davis—he just isn’t very good.

And while Bush did things for New Orleans’ offense that don’t show up on paper, he isn’t the one that makes that offense go. I do not think there will be much of a dropoff between him and the average 3rd down back. There are a lot of guys who could have done what Bush did for that offense.

Never said that Bush made that offense go. Said that he demanded a lot of attention which helped the rest of the offense. We will see this year — with Sproles replacing him.

Never said that Bush made that offense go. Said that he demanded a lot of attention which helped the rest of the offense

What is the distinction between the two for you?

If he is demanding attention such that defenses must plan around him, and therefore the offense plans their adjustments to what those defenses will do because of him, how is he not making the offense go?

This is what I was referring to. I think people were way more worried about Brees carving them up and defending them conceptually as opposed to any one on one matchups out there.

Good article can be found here. I don’t think he makes that offense click, but I think he was a big part of it.

That article makes ridiculous assumptions about Peyton’s playcalling and it’s on the same site that also features this

Drew Brees is that offense. Bush is just a good 3rd down back who can’t be relied upon to finish a season.

I’m not saying he made this offense. Did you read what I wrote above? I am saying that he creates mismatches that open up Peyton’s offense. I am not saying that he is the only one that can do that. Also, hell yeah he has injury issues. So? Either way, he did play a role in the Saints offense. Our interpretations of how big a role may be different it seems.

Need I bring up my article on the most UFL ready players still in the NFL?

I didn’t mean to imply that he had the talent of Bush, but to use him like the Saints used Bush. Sorry if that was unclear.

Maybe we should bring him back in.

Maybe we shouldn’t.

The guy is clearly a head case.

Oh no, I’m getting paid over 500,000 dollars to sit on the bench and watch a football game. Life sucks.

Hell, let me do that.

He’s an idiot. Being a professional bench sitter is the best job in the world. You get to watch sporting events from the best seat in the house, get paid enormous amounts of money, and your risk of bodily injury is significantly less than those actually playing.

He wasn’t going to make the team so he wasn’t going to get close to 1/2 million. Shanahan said they didn’t fine him because he made only 1500 bucks:

Shanahan added that the Redskins won’t fine Davis for walking out on them because he doesn’t have any money to take.

"I think maybe he’s made $1,500," Shanahan said. "Add that up, that’s not good."

Somewhat off-topic, but Shanahan is being exposed as the sh*tty coach that he is (not for not using James Davis which is a no-brainer). He failed with the Raiders back when Al Davis wasn’t fully insane, and then he failed withe Broncos after he lost Elway. Elway & Terrell Davis were responsible for those Super Bowl wins; Shanahan wasn’t. So happy we did not go with him.

To be fair, the Broncos were a good team long after Elway retired. Not great, but certainly not bad.

He’s certainly exposed himself as an asshole after the way he treated McNabb

Class move putting the guys money out there like that. I’m not supporting Davis or his actions but Shanahan seems to be butting heads with a lot of players. If he will talk about his player to the media like this, imagine what he is like behind closed doors.

Player salaries are pretty much open knowledge.

Still kind of a dick move though. Especially when you are basically making fun of what he got paid, knowing that a lot of guys get paid a ton of money.

Definitely taking a cheap shot at a guy who is clearly needing some therapy or a hug or something.

I understand that. It’s more about the way he did it to his own player. It was unnecessary and he clearly said it to demean Davis.

Are you serious? So Shanahan’s record of 91-69 after Elway left and only 2 losing seasons makes him a shitty coach? I’m a Browns fan, but I’m also a huge Skins fan, and I can tell you that having Shanny clean house like he has this past offseason is more than a welcomed sight. People think he treated McNubbs poorly? How about the guy being lazy at practice? Or refusing to wear a wrist band to help him pick up the offense because it hurt his “image”. People hate it when they think a nice guy is benched, but if he isn’t performing, he should be benched, and McNabb did not perform last year. Rex Grossman came in and made our offense more consistent and that alone I think speaks highly of our coaching. As soon as the lockout was lifted, Shanahan and our front office were quick to move both McNabb and Haynesworth out’ve town and now with Portis and other headcases like James Davis out of the picture, I can honestly say Washington is heading in the right direction, as long as our idiot owner continues to sit on his hands and let the guys who know football do their thing. Trust me, Shanahan knows football, and for you to say he’s a shitty coach is just not factual. If my Skins hadn’t brought in Shanahan, I would’ve prayed that the Browns had. Dan Reeves is a guy you can pick on, seeing as he lived off of Elway’s arm but could never win any of the four Super Bowls they got to. Shanahan drafting Terrell Davis in the 6th round shouldn’t be commended though…
I never thought I’d see the day where someone would defend Al Davis’ thought process…

And to add on, it was our manipulating owner that made the push to bring in McNabb, not Mike and Kyle, that much has come out at least.

Shanahan def has some asshole in him, I won’t deny that, but Ill proudly defend his resume as a coach.

I do not like your owner.

Our owner is the worst in the NFL, the day he crashes his private jet in the Canadian Rockies is the day theres a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

So you’re hoping for a man to be killed over sports?

Really more over being a really big jerk. And not being killed so much as happening to maybe incur bodily harm.

No I dont, because death would mean his body is brought back to DC and we all know that his human body can die, but his demonic presence cannot, therefore hed reoccupy another human vessel and pick up where he left off.. I just would like it if he lived out his remaining days, surviving on wolf meat and living off the land..

I like it. Can he take Art Modell with him?

and he doesn’t afraid of anything

Shanny did a great job in Denver without Elway. The problem is to really win in this league, you need a great QB.

Now he’s probably a jerk, but that’s a different story.

“Please do not believe everything you here (sic) people. The story will be released soon. The real truth of the story.”

Newsflash: There aren’t many people who care about the story. Whether it’s the truth of the story or the false of the story.

It sucks to see him go out like this. I never saw him as a starter but the fact that he never really got an honest opportunity to make a splash really bothers me. I saw James as a solid 3rd guy which, in this league, means you’re getting at least some time (just ask Brandon Jackson). I really think that James Davis would have been a solid running back for someone had he gotten the opportunity that he deserves. Good Luck James

I don’t want to be mean, Chris, but isn’t this fanshot material? It’s hard to find the interesting threads and stories on this site because the main page is always cluttered with junk.

There is a quota we’re trying to meet per day.

like a cop near the end of the kind type of a-hole quota?

sigh like a cop near the end of the MONTH type of a-hole quota?

be realistic with me: EDIT BUTTON PLEASE

That police quota thing is a myth.

Not everywhere.

it depends on where you are. my friend got pulled over in an area where there are never cops near the end of the month doing something the cops in that area will generally not pull you over. I believe there are some areas that may practice it.

More like a take-what-you-need quota, as a reader.

Is it self-imposed, or imposed by SBN? I think it just hurts the site. I mean, when you posted this, it had been less than three days since the last game, and it was already nigh-impossible to find any actual game coverage on the front page.

When the switch was made, the suggestion came up about expanding what your own front page shows. I did this with fanshots and fanposts as well. My front page is at 20 articles and my fanshots/posts is at 15.

he served to reserve a roster spot in Cleveland. maybe he didn’t want to do the same in Washington.

leave it to Moon to get us back on topic!Thanks Moon!

And come to think of it, if I needed to school my team on fundamentals at tailback, James Davis gets my call.

I always liked davis, even when he busted that 81 yard scamper against the lions i wanted him to have that 3rd down back or change of pace back

I was excited at the time with the battle between Davis and Jennings.

Jennings was some good depth. Wouldn’t mind having him back.

Jenning was that hard hitting back I always thought we need in Cleveland! then we got Hillis and I haven’t thought of Jennings until today!

Bush is not a proto type running back. It would kill him to run the ball 25-30 times a game every week. His talents are using him anywhere he can get into the open.

I think he was worth a 6th round pick. To bad that injury robbed him of his momentum during the 09’ training camp.

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