Bills CB Vontae Davis on halftime retirement: 'Leaving was therapeutic'
For the first time since he abruptly retired, leaving the Buffalo Bills at halftime in their Week 2 blowout loss on Sunday, former cornerback Vontae Davis broke his silence to explain his motives and expressed being at peace with his decision.
“Leaving was therapeutic, bro,” Davis said in an interview with The Undefeated. “I left everything the league wanted me to be, playing for my teammates while injured, the gladiator mentality, it all just popped. And when it popped, I just wanted to leave it all behind. So that’s why I don’t care what people say. That experience was personal and not meant for anyone else to understand. It was me cold turkey leaving behind an identity that I carried with me for so long.”
Davis told The Undefeated that he “didn’t feel right, I didn’t feel like myself" throughout the first two quarters and right before halftime of Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, an eventual 31-20 defeat.
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Davis said he came to his decision in the final series before the half, while the Bills defense was still on the field, when he went to the sideline.
“I went to the bench after that series and it just hit me,” Davis said. “I don’t belong on that field anymore.”
Davis then said he told defensive backs coach John Butler, “I’m done.”
After the game, Davis was largely dismissed by coach Sean McDermott as well as several Bills players, including linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, defensive tackle Kyle Williams and safety Rafael Bush.
“I don’t have nothing to say about Vontae," Alexander said. "I’m going to give him a little more respect than he showed us today as far as quitting on us in the middle of the game."
Davis said his pregame routine that day had been the same as it always had, and detailed an exchange he had with Bills coaches and personnel staffers on the sideline.
“I didn’t expect them to understand,” Davis said. “That moment was shocking to me as well. My intention was not to hurt my teammates. In that moment, my intuition was telling me I don’t belong on that field anymore.”
Davis, 30, was in his 10th season in the NFL after stints with the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts. The No. 25 overall pick in the 2009 draft, Davis was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2014 and 2015.
“The crazy thing is that people automatically assumed that something was wrong with me mentally,” Davis said. “I feel great. I haven’t felt like this in … well, in my whole life.”
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