What Florida Gators Safety Shawn Davis Brings to His NFL Team
The Florida Gators will be highly represented for a second-straight year in next week's NFL Draft. While the usual suspects, quarterback Kyle Trask, tight end Kyle Pitts and receiver Kadarius Toney have all been examined carefully, some of the team's under-the-radar targets shouldn't be discounted, including safety Shawn Davis.
Davis, 5-foot-10, 199 pounds, played in a total of 37 games over the course of his four-year career at Florida, starting 15 which included six last season. He accumulated a total of 124 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss, five interceptions, 10 pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Known for his playmaking ability while at Florida, Davis became one of the Gators' most important defenders in 2019, tallying 51 tackles (33 solos), a tackle-for-loss, three interceptions and three passes defended.
His most memorable interception would come against Auburn that season, catching the football with just one hand before returning it nearly 45 yards to set Florida up for another score.
It is not quite known where Davis will be selected in the draft, but any team that does select him will be getting a reliable, hard-nosed, physical safety who plays much larger than his size would indicate. He would fit well in a hybrid safety system, allowing him to play down in the box, while also using his range to play deeper in a two-deep safety formation.
One concern teams may have when selecting Davis is his propensity to miss games due to injuries. He would miss the first month of the 2018 season due to an injury, and missed five games last year due to injuries as well. While he did participate in the team's pro day, Davis was injured during the 40-yard dash, forcing him to miss the remaining testing drills for the day.
Any team selecting Davis would have to do so with the thought of development and potential down the line. While his ceiling does not appear to be high on paper, he has shown plenty of ability to fit in an NFL defense. Participating at the Senior Bowl earlier this year, Davis was named one of the top coverage defenders.
He would rank third with a grade of 72.3, according to Pro Football Focus, behind K.J. Britt (Auburn, 73.0) and Ifeatu Melifonwu (75.0, Syracuse).
Davis is one of three safeties Florida will have in the hat on draft day, with Donovan Stiner and Brad Stewart as the two others.
