Dolphins Player Profile - G/T Jesse Davis
As we continue through this offseason without minicamps, we'll be breaking down the players on the roster, review their 2019 performance and see how they fit for 2020.
We continue this series with offensive lineman Jesse Davis
How he got to Miami
Davis has been with the Dolphins since December of 2016 when he was signed to the practice squad after spending some time on the New York Jets practice squad. After being signed to a futures contract in January 2017, Davis has played 47 games for the Dolphins with 41 starts.
Contract status
After re-signing as an exclusive-rights free agent last offseason, Davis signed a three-year extension Sept. 7 worth a little more than $15 million in new money and $8.5 million guaranteed, according to overthecap.com. Davis is now signed through the 2022 season.
2019 season
Davis continued to move around the offensive line, as he has done since joining the Dolphins.
After playing every snap of the 2018 season at right guard, Davis was used at right tackle throughout the preseason.
Then came the big trade of Laremy Tunsil to the Houston Texans the week before the start of the regular season, and Davis then was asked to switch sides and take over at left tackle.
Though Davis had started at both guard spots and right tackle in 2017, his only experience at left tackle consisted of some relief duty that first year.
Davis ended up lasting three games at left tackle before moving him back to right tackle and moving over veteran J'Marcus Webb, who had started the second and third games at right tackle.
While the entire offensive line struggled badly in those first three games, it was pretty clear that Davis wasn't really suited for the left tackle position.
After returning to the right side, Davis was back to being his solid, steady self.
While the offensive line continued its struggles to the end of the season, Davis' play clearly picked up as the season went along.
2020 outlook
The Dolphins underwent massive changes along the offensive line in the offseason, bringing veteran free agents Ereck Flowers and Ted Karras as well as draft picks Austin Jackson (1st round), Robert Hunt (2nd) and Solomon Kindley (4th).
Based on the changes and the performance the Dolphins got from their offensive line in 2019, which no one would argue was unsatisfactory, the group up front will look drastically different in 2020.
Davis clearly stands the best chance of remaining a starter among all the players who got into the starting lineup last season, based on his performance down the stretch and also the contract the Dolphins gave him last September.
The question with Davis, though, is whether his most likely spot will be at right guard or right tackle.
And that will have a lot to do with the Dolphins prefer when it comes to Hunt. He starred at right tackle at Louisiana-Lafayette, but was rated as a marginal prospect at that spot but a potentially elite one if moved inside to guard (both ESPN draft analysts, Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr., had him as their No. 1 guard).
The best guess at this point is that Hunt will, at least, begin his NFL career at guard, the same way Tunsil did (albeit on the left side) when he came in as a rookie in 2016 and the Dolphins already had Branden Albert to play left tackle.
That would leave Davis in the starting lineup at right tackle.
Regardless of who lines up where, it's actually difficult to envision a Dolphins starting offensive line that would not include Davis.
