Packers Re-Sign Tight End, Special-Teams Standout Tyler Davis
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers re-signed tight end Tyler Davis on Monday, not long before the unofficial start of NFL free agency.
It is a one-year deal, according to a source.
Davis spent the last three seasons with the Packers. He caught four passes in 2021 and four more in 2022. Last offseason, the Packers drafted Luke Musgrave in the second round and Tucker Kraft in the third round as part of a makeover of the tight end room. Davis was expected to provide some veteran wisdom to that group but he suffered a torn ACL during the preseason.
While Davis might have had a limited role on offense, he was expected to be a stalwart on special teams after playing a team-high 346 snaps on the kicking units in 2022.
“I feel like to some degree we lost our right hand, you know?” special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said at the time. “He was an exceptional special-teams player, someone that you could count on in every critical situation, count on to play multiple positions. He’s a big-bodied guy who can really run, was a double-digit tackler a year ago.
“I really haven’t gotten very comfortable with not having Tyler Davis to this point because of who he is and how much he puts into it and how important it is to him and how he feels about the Green Bay Packers and being a part of this. So, losing him is a big blow to our unit, I think it’s a blow to our team.”
Davis’ rehab from the knee injury is going well. He’s expected to be cleared for football action at some point during the offseason workouts. However, with his experience in the scheme, his return will probably wait until training camp.
Davis is part of a crowded room. In his absence, the Packers signed Ben Sims off waivers from Minnesota, with Sims showing plenty of potential as an old-school, in-line blocker. Where there is room is the H-back role manned last year by former third-round pick Josiah Deguara, who is not expected to return.
Davis was a sixth-round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020. He opened his career at Connecticut as a quarterback. With his path to playing time blocked, a move to tight end was suggested by then-coach Bob Diaco.
“I played quarterback basically my whole life,” Davis said in 2022. “We had a solidified starting quarterback and the head coach came up to me at the time and said, ‘Tyler, you can’t hold a clipboard on the sidelines. You’re too athletic. We need you somewhere.’ He said outside linebacker and I kind of was like, ‘Oof.’ I was like, ‘Oh, let me think about that one.’ He said, ‘How does tight end sound?’ I said, ‘It sounds good’ and it went from there.”
