Tag: Vernon Davis

Rod Smith among 19 former Broncos nominated for Hall of Fame

Rod Smith is one of eight Broncos Super Bowl champions who have been nominated for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has announced 167 modern-era finalists for the 2025 class. The list includes 19 former Denver Broncos players, including eight Super Bowl champions.

Former Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith headlines the list of players who won Super Bowls with Denver in the late 1990s. He is joined by center Tom Nalen, kicker Jason Elam, guard Mark Schlereth, linebacker Bill Romanowski and defensive lineman Neil Smith.

The Broncos also had two members of their Super Bowl 50 squad — late wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and cornerback Aqib Talib — nominated for the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.

Other players nominated include running backs Clinton Portis and Glyn Milburn, receivers Wes Welker and Brandon Marshall and cornerback Dré Bly. View the full list below.

Broncos Hall of Fame nominees

  1. WR Rod Smith
  2. C Tom Nalen
  3. K Jason Elam
  4. G Mark Schlereth
  5. LB Bill Romanowski
  6. DL Neil Smith
  7. WR Demaryius Thomas
  8. CB Aqib Talib
  9. WR Wes Welker
  10. RB Clinton Portis
  11. WR Brandon Marshall
  12. RB Glyn Milburn
  13. CB Dré Bly
  14. TE Vernon Davis
  15. DL Jamal Williams
  16. LB Keith Brooking
  17. RB Jamaal Charles
  18. DL Ted Washington
  19. DL Simeon Rice

The Broncos also have 11 senior candidates for the 2025 class, and former coach Mike Shanahan is expected to be a top candidate in the coach category. Voters will trim the list down to 20 finalists with 15 modern-era candidates, three senior candidates, one coach and one contributor. The selection committee will meet before Super Bowl LVIX to elect the 2025 class.

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Commanders reveal Week 2 captains and a franchise legend will be honored vs. Giants

Captains for Week 2 are in and the team will honor former tight end on Sunday.

Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn abandoned the traditional method of naming team captains ahead of the season and chose weekly captains.

“We’ll be using game captains, and I’ll also utilize a group of some leaders that will be kind of with me on some decisions that or emphasis that I wanna make with the team,” Quinn said earlier this month. “But, we’ll pick game captains until the postseason, and then we’ll pick postseason captains. That’ll be throughout.”

In Week 1, star wide receiver Terry McLaurin was one of Washington’s three captains, along with defensive end Clelin Ferrell and safety Jeremy Reaves. McLaurin and Reaves have been captains in Washington prior to this season.

It’s Friday, so the Commanders revealed captains for their home opener on Sunday against the New York Giants.

  • C Tyler Biadasz
  • LB Frankie Luvu
  • S/special teams ace Percy Butler

Quinn revealed in his Friday press conference the team went crazy when Butler was revealed as one of the captains. The third-year safety has been excellent on special teams since being drafted in 2022 and has been trusted with more responsibility at safety under the new coaching staff.

The Commanders will also honor Vernon Davis, a Washington, D.C. native and former tight end, as their “legend of the game.”

Davis, who played at Dunbar High in D.C., enjoyed a successful college career at Maryland before the 49ers selected him as the No. 6 overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft. Davis spent 9 1/2 seasons in San Francisco before he was traded to the Broncos midway through the 2015 season. Davis earned a Super Bowl ring during his short stint in Denver and signed with his hometown Redskins in 2016.

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Davis played the final four seasons of his NFL career in Washington. Davis caught 583 passes for 7,562 yards and 63 touchdowns for his career.

Since retirement, Davis has remained busy as an actor, philanthropist and author.

What has happened since the Commanders opened on the road?

A lot has happened since the last time Washington opened a season on the road.

The Commanders will open their 2024 season at Tampa on September 8.

How long has it been since the NFL Washington team opened an NFL season on the road?

Well, put it this way: Jay Gruden was the head coach, and Case Keenum was the starting quarterback. Keenum’s backups were Colt McCoy and Dwayne Haskins.

Terry McLaurin was playing in his first NFL regular season game, and the two running backs who had carries for Washington that day were Derrius Guice and Chris Thompson.

McLaurin made a huge splash debut into the NFL that day, catching five passes on seven targets for 125 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown from Keenum. The other receivers catching passes that day other than McLaurin were Vernon Davis, Paul Richardson, Trey Quinn, Kelvin Harmon and Jeremy Sprinkle.

Washington had traveled to Philadelphia to open the 2019 season and started magnificently. Keenum connected with Davis on a 48-yard touchdown and McLaurin on a 69-yard touchdown. Plus, Dustin Hopkins’ 41-yard field goal was sandwiched between, and the Redskins were beating the Eagles at Lincoln Field 17-0.

When Hopkins booted a 48-yarder on the closing play of the first half, the Redskins led the Eagles 20-7. However, Carson Wentz led the Eagles to 25 consecutive second-half points for a 32-20 fourth-quarter lead. The final was Eagles 32-27 over the Redskins.

A great first half had launched the season with great hope and excitement. However, the second half would be a microcosm of the season, as the Redskins began 0-5, and Gruden was fired.

Things were so bad in 2019 when the Dolphins were unsuccessful on a game-ending two-point conversion attempt; it actually saved the Redskins from starting the season 0-10.

The dreadful season saw Haskins celebrating with fans and thus missing the final possession for the victory formation snap against the Lions. The silly act was a sign of Haskins’s future actions with Washington, which resulted in his not lasting two seasons before being released.

In a bizarre twist, the following Sunday, the Redskins went down to Charlotte, defeated the Panthers 29-21, resulting in Ron Rivera being fired by Carolina’s new owner David Tepper.

Washington owner Daniel Snyder hired Rivera as the team’s next head coach one month later. Snyder strangely kicked off the press conference with a mysterious “Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody.”

Next summer, Federal Express owner and Redskins minority owner Fred Smith challenged Snyder that the team needed to change its name from the historic “Redskins.” Nike and Pepsi soon hopped on that bandwagon, pressing Snyder to cave, and the “Redskins” were history.

Rivera then coached the Washington Football Team/Washington Commanders to four consecutive losing seasons and was subsequently fired by new majority owner Josh Harris.

Harris then hired Adam Peters as general manager and Dan Quinn as head coach, who hired his coaching staff. Sam Howell was traded to Seattle, and Peters blew up the roster, signed many free agents, and drafted nine new college players, including LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy.

Isn’t that a tremendous amount of water under the bridge since the last time Washington opened an NFL season on the road?

 

Vontae Davis may have slipped after sauna, according to brother Vernon

Vontae Davis was founded unresponsive in his home gym and was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Former Miami Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis may have died after he collapsed or slipped after stepping out of a sauna, his brother Vernon Davis told the DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

While investigations into Davis’ death are ongoing and could take weeks before determining a cause of death, police say no foul play was believed to be involved.

In audio from a 911 call released by police on Tuesday, an unidentified woman said she found Davis unresponsive on the floor of a home gym. Davie Police Department officers who responded to the call pronounced Davis dead at the scene.

“I’m leaning on the detectives to figure it out but right now we have no answers,” Vernon Davis, a former NFL tight end, told DailyMail.com. “They are going to run tests and they said they’ll get back to us. It could be as long as a month, a month and a half, until we know anything.”

Vontae Davis was selected by the Dolphins in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft and spent three seasons with the team before he was traded to the Colts in 2012.

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DE mocked to 49ers by Mel Kiper has size, athleticism matched only by Vernon Davis

The DE Mel Kiper mocked to the 49ers put up insane combine numbers that are reminiscent of a former 49ers athletic freak:

The 49ers need a lot of help on their offensive line, but ESPN’s draft analyst Mel Kiper had them going a different direction in his second mock draft. In that second projection he had San Francisco scooping up Penn State defensive end Chop Robinson with the No. 31 overall pick. After Robinson’s combine performance though, he may not make it that far in the first round.

Robinson measured in at 6-3, 254 pounds. That size doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but his athletic testing at that size did. Robinson ripped off a 4.48 in the 40-yard dash, and then jumped 10-feet-8-inches in the broad jump.

According to NFL Media’s Rich Eisen, Robinson’s athletic testing at his size has only been matched by one other player in the last 20 years: former 49ers TE and No. 6 overall pick Vernon Davis.

Robinson was already a really fun prospect. His explosiveness shows up on tape and he has the bend to quickly turn corners on offensive tackles on either side. There’s plenty of reason to believe he’s a Round 1 edge prospect. Now we can tack on the Vernon Davis-like athleticism at defensive end at it may be impossible for the 49ers to pass on Robinson if he winds up tumbling to them with the 31st pick.

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All 5 times Trent Baalke made a midseason trade as GM

Will the Jaguars be aggressive at the trade deadline?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 5-2 and have one more game before the Oct. 31 trade deadline.

Clearly, the Jaguars view themselves as a legitimate contender with hopes of their first ever Super Bowl appearance. But does that mean Jacksonville is content with the current state of its roster, or does it mean the team will want to make a stronger push by acquiring another player or two?

The Philadelphia Eagles already went with the latter strategy by sending two draft picks and a player to the Tennessee Titans for two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard.

To figure out if the Jaguars are a team likely to do the same, it’s informative to look into Trent Baalke’s past as a general manager. In two previous seasons with Jacksonville and six years running the San Francisco 49ers, he’s made just five trades between the start of the regular season and the trade deadline. Here’s all of them:

Jonathan Vilma shares his painful take on the best-ever Saints team

Jonathan Vilma shared his take on the best-ever Saints team, acknowledging that ‘I don’t think about that season as a success’ in an interview with his old teammate Lance Moore

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Here’s a great interview from former New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who recently talked shop with his former teammate Lance Moore for Boot Krewe Media. When asked to share his take on the best-ever Saints team regardless of the season’s result, Vilma took a painful trip down memory lane.

“2011, it’s 2011,” Vilma said. “Bro, to be very frank for everyone that’s watching us, we felt like that season was a disappointment when we lost — especially the way we lost — to San Francisco. Like we were supposed to run all the way back to the Super Bowl. It still hurts to this day when I think about that season. I don’t think about that season as a success. All the records you guys broke offensively, we were humming on defense. And then we literally just s— the bed with a minute left in the damn game.”

Vilma grimaced, adding, “God knows how we let Alex Smith score a touchdown on us.”

That 2011 Saints team is the stuff of legend, rebounding from a stunning upset loss to the winless Rams in Week 8 to claim victory in each of the eight games left on their regular season schedule — including a 49-24 dismantling of the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Drew Brees broke Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards record, and four different players racked up 900 or more scrimmage yards while scoring six or more touchdowns:

  • Darren Sproles: 1,313 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns (7 receiving, 2 rushing, 1 punt return)
  • Jimmy Graham: 1,310 scrimmage yards, 11 touchdown catches
  • Marques Colston: 1,143 scrimmage yards, 8 touchdown catches
  • Pierre Thomas: 987 scrimmage yards, 6 touchdowns (5 rushing, 1 receiving)

But as Vilma said, it all came undone when Smith led a miraculous comeback in the playoffs. That Saints-49ers divisional-round matchup is widely considered one of the best playoff games of all time. The game featured four lead changes in the final four minutes, including touchdown catches of 44 yards and 66 yards by Sproles and Graham, respectively. But it came down to a 28-yard touchdown by Smith and a 14-yard scoring pass to Vernon Davis in the closing seconds to wipe that all away.

It’s a shame. If the Saints had won that game, they’d have hosted the same Giants team they ran off the field at midseason, and then all that stood in their way was a vulnerable New England Patriots squad. As Vilma said, it’s the one that got away.

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Vernon Davis on Washington Commanders name: ‘They couldn’t have picked a better name’

USA TODAY Sports sits down with Vernon Davis to discuss the new name for the Washington football team.

After all the build up and fanfare, or maybe lack thereof, the Washington Football franchise will officially debut as the Washington Commanders this Saturday against the Carolina Panthers. 

While many in the DMV area are still very much TBD on the name, a local great and former Washington TE Vernon Davis believes the area has already embraced the new name.

“I think the DMV has already bought into it because Commanders represents what Washington, D.C. really is.” said Davis to Mackenzie Salmon on Sports Seriously. “I mean we are talking about the nation’s capital.

“It just makes sense for them to have that name. They couldn’t have picked a better name than the Commanders,” said Davis. “Of course, everyone loves the old name, but hey look, time changes, things are different and we have to learn to adapt and really get behind this team and support them.” 

Time till tell if Davis is right about the new name. As for the new fight song, let’s just pull the plug on that right now. 

Check out the full interview with Vernon Davis on Sports Seriously, above

Washington tight ends coach Pete Hoener retires

This is disappointing news for the Commanders as Pete Hoener is one of the best in the NFL.

The Washington Commanders lost one of their top assistant coaches when veteran tight ends coach Pete Hoener officially retired Friday.

Hoener, who came to Washington in 2020 with head coach Ron Rivera, ends a 46-year coaching career that featured stops with the 49ers, Bears, Cardinals and Panthers in the NFL before his time in Washington. The 70-year-old Hoener also spent several years coaching college football with stops at Texas A&M, Iowa State, TCU, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana State, Illinois State and Missouri. His NFL coaching career began in 1985.

Hoener was instrumental in the development of Vernon Davis, Greg Olsen and the breakout of Logan Thomas. Under Hoener, Olsen became one of the NFL’s best tight ends during his nine-year run with the Panthers.

Olsen spoke of Hoener’s influence in 2019 to the Charlotte Observer, via Zach Selby of commanders.com:

“He’s been unbelievable for my development,” Olsen said. “He believed in me, gave me a chance. I was kind of on the fence about whether I was gonna be that next breakout guy or if I was gonna be another first-round ‘bust,’ so to speak. Obviously, my career took off to another level since I’ve gotten here, and Pete was a big part of that.”

Thomas has also been complimentary of Hoener and his role in the former quarterback’s development at tight end. Thomas had a career year for Washington in 2020 and signed a three-year contract extension last summer.

The 2022 season will be the first for Rivera as a head coach without Hoener on the sideline.

The Commanders acted quickly in hiring Hoener’s replacement, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported the team was hiring veteran coach Juan Castillo as their next tight ends coach.

We’ll have more on Castillo tomorrow.

 

Vernon Davis says he was ‘hurt deep down’ by Washington’s decision to change name

The former Washington tight end was unhappy with Washington’s decision to change their team name this offseason.

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When the Washington Football Team made the decision to become the Washington Football Team earlier this offseason, many fans were upset about the change to tradition. A historic legacy had been built under the former name, and the decision to change it threatened what many believed was their identity.

One of those people who felt this was was former Washington tight end Vernon Davis, who told TMZ recently that he was pretty upset hearing about the name change.

“I feel like a part of me has been taken away,” Davis said “I grew up a Washington Redskins fan, right? I’ve always wanted to play for the team as a kid. I always had dreams and aspirations to play for that team.”

“So, for them to change the name, it really hurt. It hurt deep down inside.”

The team has yet to decide what their mascot will be going forward, but they will be known as the Washington Football Team until further notice. The new name will be something that fans, sponsors, and players agree on, which hopefully will make all parties happy.

“But I understand it’s a business. It’s all business,” Davis said. “If there’s a lot of complaints and everyone’s asking and if it’s going to shine a better light on the organization, and just everything in general, I think it’s best.”

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