Former 49ers TE Vernon Davis on his Relationship with Mike Singletary

"I had to understand that there's a time and place for everything, and fighting in the middle of a game is not the time or place."

Nov. 16, 2008; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis (85) heads to the locker room before the start of the game against the St. Louis Rams at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Vernon Davis is one of the sweetest football players I've ever covered.

But when he was young, he was angry, and he took out his anger on the football field. And when he did that, he hurt his team. That's why in 2008 when Davis committed a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, head coach Mike Singletary threw him out of the game.

I recently asked Davis what that moment meant for his growth as a player and as a man. Here's what Davis said.

ME: "It felt like in that moment Mike Singletary was a bit of a father figure in the sense that he was telling you, 'You don't have to fight back on your own. We're a team. We'll do it together. If someone disrespects you, we're a team, come back to the huddle.' Does that resonate with you?

DAVIS: "That does resonate. You're growing up and your leader is someone older than you, someone you look up to. If you're brought up in a certain environment, most likely you're going to become part of that environment. If I have guys telling me to stand up for myself, be tough, fight back, that's probably going to follow me the rest of my life. So now you have this guy, Coach Singletary, who's telling me, 'You don't have to fight this battle alone. If you get into a fight, you have other people who are here with you and for you. But at the same time, make sure you put these guys first. It's never about you, the individual, it's more about the team. I had to realize that. I also had to understand that there's a time and place for everything, and fighting in the middle of a game is not the time or place. You have to be wise and know the situation."

ME: "Your whole childhood, you were told if you want to be tough, you have to fight that fight alone. And then you have the toughest linebacker ever saying, 'No, we're a team.' What's your relationship like with Singletary now?

DAVIS: "We have a great relationship. His family is like my family. When you play football, you're there to create family and cultivate relationships that last a lifetime."

Davis's memoir, Playing Ball, comes out Aug. 20.