Ashtyn Davis – March 25, 2025
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Tuesday, March 25, 2025
S Ashtyn Davis
(Have you ever wondered – I know this question is going to sound a little funny – but have you ever wondered how can I have eight career interceptions in a fairly limited number of starts and yet not be a full-time NFL starter? Has that occurred to you ever?) – “Yeah, once or twice. Shoot, I’ve just tried to play my role in New York, and when I got in, tried to make the most of plays that I did get in and I felt like I did that for the most part. But yeah, of course, I think every – you make it to this level because you’re competitive and because you believe you could be out there taking all the snaps so I think everyone wonders that a little bit.”
(There’s no long-term starter on this roster at safety. Obviously with S Ifeatu Melifonwu coming in, some starting experience. DB Elijah Campbell a little bit. Did the Dolphins indicate to you if you’ll have a legitimate chance to earn a starting job?) – “Yeah, I think it’s going to be a competition and the guys that they do have in that room are super talented. I played with Elijah a little bit in New York when he was there. I didn’t play with Pat (McMorris), but I played Pat’s older brother, so I know he’s an amazing athlete, too, and look forward to getting to meet ‘Iffy’ (Ifeatu Melifonwu) and whoever else ends up in that room. So yeah, I think it’ll be a good competition. I think it’ll be fun.”
(What’s been the key to you being such a ball hawk? Because you look at the interception numbers, it’s off the charts and last year the safeties did not record one interception last year so what’s been the key to you being just such a ball hawk?) – “I think just my whole career it’s been emphasized. Even dating back to college, I had an amazing college coach that emphasized getting the football and made that a priority. So I think every time I’m on the field that’s what I’m looking to do is get the football – whether it’s a run or pass play, I’m just trying to get that football.”
(What were your early impressions of Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver and then just what was it about the Dolphins defense last year that made you say, “Hmm, I think I want to go there”?) – “Talking to ‘Coach Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) was amazing. I think we hit it off right as I stepped in the building. Just seems like a real good dude and as far as the scheme goes, I think it’s a lot of the similar stuff that I’ve done before and learned in New York and even dating back to college days. So I think it’ll be a good fit.”
(I’m sorry that you’re losing apparently your favorite baseball team to Sacramento and Los Angeles…) – “I’m a hat fan. You might see me wearing a few different hats, but I guess technically I’m a San Francisco Giants fan. I grew up a Giants fan.”
(I know that you’ve run as fast as 4.37 in your lifetime which is pretty darn fast. And if that’s not true, don’t dispute it – 4.37 is a good number. Are you looking forward to testing that speed in practice repetitions against guys like WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle?) – “Absolutely. I think any time you get a couple fast guys on the field, all it’s going to do is make you better, make you faster. So definitely looking forward to playing against those guys every day. We saw them a couple times a year when I was in New York and they were always guys we’d have to game plan for, so I think it’ll be fun.”
(You’ll have a young safety from Cal named Patrick McMorris in your room. If Pat asked you for some advice based on your career journey thus far, what might you lend to his ear?) – “I mean I’d tell him everything I have to know. I don’t know about specifics, but I’m not one to gatekeep information. I’m here to service other people. I feel like that’s my role as a teammate, is to help other people, especially young guys figure it out in the league. Your career here a lot of times is very short, so I think you want to maximize that so I’m here to help guys.”
(I’ve known about you for years. You’ve always made plays [against] the Miami Dolphins. You’ve got [eight] career interceptions. How come you’ve never had that opportunity to cement yourself as a starter? What do you think it is about you that says it’s not – you’re never chosen, you’re always the bridesmaid?) – “(laughter) I don’t know. I think I’m wondering the same thing, but I mean shoot, all I can do is keep going forward and try to go compete for a spot this year. We’ll see what happens, but yeah, of course there’s parts of me that look back and wish certain things were different. But you can’t change that, so you’ve got to put one foot in front of the other and see what happens going forward.”
(I get the business element in this league especially when there’s a regime change. They want to bring in their whole new guys, but when you were looking for opportunities, was having a legit chance to become a starter atop your list?) – “Absolutely. Yeah, I think I’ve been, I guess, predominantly a teams a guy, a rotational defensive piece the last couple years, but I think that I’ve seen what a starter in this league looks like and I think that I fit that description. I’ve played with a lot of great players and guys that did some amazing things in this league and I know what it looks like, and I think that I stand on the same plane as those guys. So I absolutely believe that that’s something that I can do and that was a huge thing for me, just looking for somewhere with an opportunity to prove that to myself and prove that to an organization.”
(My question is what to you does good safety play look like in the NFL and how do you fit that model?) – “I think it depends on scheme. There’s a lot of different schemes – teams that play one-high (safety), you want someone that’s rangier, someone that is essentially another linebacker that can play in the box well but that can also cover. If you’re playing quarters, you’ve kind of got to do both. It just depends on scheme, but I think ultimately, you’re the last line of defense, right, so you can’t let any bombs go up in terms of deep balls and you’ve got to be able to tackle. So if something pops, of course you don’t want that to happen, but you’ve got to be able to get them down. It’s not always going to look pretty and you might end up on somebody’s highlight tape, but you’ve got to make the tackle. So I think being a sure tackler and essentially saving a blade of grass – making the offense drive a long field is hard to do in this league and so if you can do those two things I think you’ll be pretty successful.”
(I’ve got one more for you. I’ve been asking guys about this because I’m going to write a column on it. A lot of times you hear that as your last year in college, after that you’re training specifically for the Combine and pro days; you’re doing drills as opposed to football. Then after your rookie year, that offseason you get to work on football. Is that accurate? Was that the case for you? How much of a difference does it make?) – “I think a big thing, too, was I had had surgery so I was doing rehab and Combine training after college and it was a lot, but I think getting the first full offseason under your belt is huge. When you go in and you’re just focused on scheme and you know what – things start to slow down once you put the time in, in terms of film and stuff like that and so yeah, I think transitioning to your first full offseason where you’re really focused on football and you’re not focused on training for the 40 (-yard dash) or getting as strong as you can or as big as you can, whatever the case may be; I think that that’s huge and that is where you make some exponential gains in your game.”
(Growing up in Santa Cruz, growing in relative Bay Area, were you a Giants and 49ers fan growing up? Were you Giants and Raiders? A’s and – because they say you can’t flip, but I don’t know if that’s a real rule.) – “So I was a Giants, 49ers fan. My dad was a Raiders fan and then I went to school in Berkeley, so we went to a lot of A’s baseball games. So I’m all over the place, I’m messed up now but I grew up Giants, 49ers.”
(So were you like Barry Bonds era Giants?) – “Yes sir. Yes sir.”
(That was a great era, I can’t believe those teams didn’t win anything. It hurts my heart; I got distracted a little bit. But going back to football, playing with a guy in the defensive backfield like CB Jalen Ramsey, as talented and instinctual as Jalen Ramsey. How does that change your job as a safety playing behind him?) – “I think any time, it just gives you a little bit more confidence when you’re playing with a guy that has that level of talent. He’s obviously tremendously talented, a generational talent, so I’m excited to get to know the guy, get to work with the guy and pick his brains about things. I’m sure it won’t always be pretty, but I think we’ll be able to do some good things out there.”
(A couple of quick things for you, you referenced a coach at Cal who kind of taught you the importance of going after the ball, could that coach have been former Dolphins assistant Gerald Alexander?) – “Yes sir, absolutely. ‘G.A.’ was monumental in my development. I switched from corner to safety around the time that he got there, and the guy would meet with me every single day early in the morning and just got me right. Taught me how to watch film, really. So yeah, that’s my guy.”
(Another quick thing. So you made one start last year, it so happened to have been against the Dolphins in the regular season finale when you came up with two interceptions. Where does that stand among your career highlights in terms of best games perhaps?) – “It’s up there, for sure. That game was an interesting one. It was the end of the year, and we knew our playoff hopes were obviously gone so we just went out there and had fun. I think on the second interception I pitched it to D.J. (Reed) and we’d been doing that in practice, they were not happy about it, but we just said we were going to go out there and have fun and we had a blast, and I think it showed. The whole defense was playing loose, and I think, I don’t know – that was definitely up there. That was probably my favorite game that I’ve played in in the league.”
(I want to ask you a little bit about your moonlighting gig, by that I mean special teams and how you’re able to move the chains when called upon in fake punts. Tell me about the pride you take in doing that and does it require a special knack or is it just your speed?) – “I think just being able to demonstrate – being a consistent person in the locker room. Our Special Teams Coordinator (Brant) Boyer, who I had all five years in New York, had a large amount of trust in me and I think that went a long way. We watched film on the side, we talked on the side, and he trusted that when I saw something that I could get it, get it done so I think that, that trust played a huge role in it. Just him allowing me to kind of have the keys a little bit. He’d just say, ‘Just make a smart decision buddy,’ and we were pretty successful during my time there.”
(So it was, you have the green light to go if you see something but you just darn well better make it kind of thing?) – “Yeah, of course. (Brant) Boyer was never going to throw me under the bus, I know that but I think that him having the confidence in me to if I see a short edge, take it or whatever the case may be. I think that went a long way, me trusting him and him trusting me. If we had a look that we had been practicing all week, when we got it, then we’re running it and I think we were pretty good at that.”
(I see that you walked onto college football from running track. What went into that decision to try to aspire for football full time?) – “This might be a little long-winded answer, but I actually had no football offers. I think one year in high school I had 17 kids on my high school football team, so football wasn’t really a priority down there, so I didn’t get recruited at all. After football season, my best friend at the time got me to run track. I ran track and then made it to the state meet somehow. Then I just went up to everybody with a clipboard in their hand and was like, ‘Hey, my name is Ashtyn, can I walk on?’ So I actually walked on for track, but football was always the plan. I wanted to go somewhere that had a football team and somewhere – like track was essentially a steppingstone to get where I wanted to be for football. So after my freshman year of track, they offered me a full ride. I had to call my parents, obviously because the condition was you can’t play football if you accept this. So I called my parents, they said they would take out a loan; took out a loan, still pursued football and yeah. I think though to answer your question, football was always the plan. It was just a matter of how I was going to get there.”
(I see you’re joining a division rival. You had your first career interception against QB Tua Tagovailoa. How is that – going from one division rival to another? How is that for you?) – “I think it’s exciting. I think I’m going to enjoy the warm weather, though. I think I’m going to enjoy that. I’m definitely excited, familiar with a lot of people in this division and it’ll be interesting switching sides.”
(I just wanted to follow up, who gave you the full ride?) – “Once I finally got put on – so my track coach Mike Gipson, he’s the one that offered me the track scholarship. And then after that, for football, when I finally accepted it was Justin Wilcox.”
(So you never accepted the full ride to track?) – “No sir.”
(So your parents were like, “For this opportunity, we will pay for you to go to college,” instead of accepting the full ride and chase your dreams?) – “Yeah, I had to have a talk with them obviously, because we didn’t come from money. So it was like, ‘OK, how are we going to afford this?’ But like I said, they were like, ‘We’ll figure it out if this is what you want to do.’ So I owe everything to them, so I appreciate them for that.”
(So did you walk on to football and track at the same time?) – “So I was a spring admit because I missed – because I had no football offers, I missed the fall admission, so I had to be a spring admit for track, essentially. Then I pretty much tried out for football. I think Washington State that week threw for 700 – almost 800 yards on Cal’s defense, and after that they clearly didn’t watch my highlight tape because I was an offensive guy and they said, ‘If you want to come play DB for us, you can come play DB for us.’ So then I switched to DB. (laughter)”
