Receiver Tries Again to Earn Roster Spot

Rashard Davis, cut by other teams at the start of the last three seasons, has been a favorite of Tennessee Titans coaches this offseason.

Wide receiver Rashard Davis has had to practice patience throughout his career thus far.

This year, however, seems to be setting up differently for the 24-year-old wide receiver.

Davis is in position to make a Week 1 roster for the first time in his career after taking home offseason performer of the year honors in his first summer with the Tennessee Titans and having what he called a “solid” training camp.

“When it’s your time, that's when your time will be,” Davis said. “You’ve just got to go out there, work, grind and put your head down and get after it, and at the end of the day it'll sort itself out.”

While roster cuts loom, Davis can presumably consider this as his time at last.

Undrafted out of James Madison University, Davis was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles just before Week 1 in 2017 and again 2018. That first year, he was on and off the Eagles’ practice squad and the next year he did the same thing with the Oakland Raiders.

He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs last spring but came up against some tough competition and was again cut when teams reduced their rosters to 53 players.

That led Davis to a crossroads. Last October, Davis was a top pick in the XFL Draft. At that time, he had been waived eight times by three different NFL teams. It could have been easy to move on and try something new.

When the Titans called on him in November, though, he decided to put his nose to the NFL grindstone again.

And it paid off.

After more than a month on the practice squad, Davis made his regular season debut in Week 17 against the Houston Texans and played in the first of the Titans’ three postseason contests. In those games, Davis caught one pass for 16 yards and returned a punt for nine yards.

“With me going out there, making that catch on third down, and then just fielding the punts, it just shows you that you can go out there and compete with the guys at the top and that's playing at this level,” Davis said. “It gives you more confidence, and you just realize that you’ve still got to come out there and work and it won't be handed to you.”

In training camp this summer, Davis did not have the luxury of separating himself from other roster hopefuls in preseason games. While that could have resulted in Davis putting extra pressure on himself to perform in practices, he said he used a lesson that he learned during his first NFL training camp with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“... One of the vets came and spoke to me and was like, 'Leave it in the past. Leave that play at that play, and just focus on the next one,'” Davis said. “… So, you really got to have a clear mindset on each play. If you made a play last play, and then you go into the next play with that same mindset, you might mess yourself up.

“Really got to take it one step at a time, one play at a time, one day at a time, and that's how I've been going about it.”

If Davis ends up on the Titans active roster after this weekend, he will be behind AJ Brown, Corey Davis and Adam Humphries on the depth chart. However, he could have an increased role as a returner. At James Madison University, Davis returned 21 punts for 489 yards and four touchdowns over four seasons.

Whatever his role may be this season -- and whomever it may be with -- Davis’ patience could finally be a virtue.

“It comes with experience,” he said. “This is my fourth year, so I've seen both sides of it, and at the end of the day you just learn how to become patient and it's always a timing thing.”