Jesse Davis – August 1, 2020
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Saturday, August 1, 2020
G/T Jesse Davis
(I know you’re going to give me the diplomatic answer because you’re always that guy and you’ve played everywhere except for center on this offensive line, but – you want to do the best thing for the team – but where does Jesse Davis feel like he’s going to have the best success?) – “I’ve played every position besides center like you mentioned; but moving forward, it’s always what we can put (me in) the best position to move this ball club forward and get wins and have success. However, I have been playing center this week. That’s a little nugget for you. (laughter)”
(You can’t just let that one slide by. How did this come about and is that something that’s just kind of being tweaked with or something you’re taking seriously?) – “I’ve been taking it seriously. I don’t want to put – when I’m out there, because it’s the injured group and the rookies and the quarterbacks – it’s just a little extra practice for everybody to get the early group going; but right now, it’s just been – we don’t have enough centers out there right now, so they’re like, ‘hey, why don’t you (go out there)? Let’s see what happens.’ So right now, I don’t want to go out there and put my guys in a bad spot so I have to learn this stuff. I have to make the right calls and put everybody in a position to be successful and see the reps and get the reps right. I think it’s just something to mess with, especially with this COVID stuff. You never know who’s going to be up, who’s going to be down; so I’m excited for it.”
(I wanted to ask you, especially given the COVID worries and whatnot, how is it for an offensive lineman? It seems like more than any other position group, you guys have to be close, you guys have to be tight. How difficult is it to sort of social distance in that particular position?) – “I think any position really, but especially o-line because we play so close to each other, we all rely on communication and knowing each other. Early on when we had all the rookies in, I made sure to get a couple Zoom meetings in, just us as players. Shoot the breeze. Get to know each other, where you’re from – stuff you do when you first meet – so we did a couple of those meetings early on. Then during the summer, following the CDC guidelines, a couple of us got together and made sure we practiced or did our drills together following the guidelines as well. I think we did – for the circumstances – a pretty good job of getting to know everybody, who’s in town, making sure everybody’s doing okay, everybody’s safe and if anybody needs anything. So we already had that communication base, and I think we did pretty good with it.”
(What’s it like – you’re the most veteran guy on the Dolphins team, which is weird, by the way – but what is it like to have to be a leader of this unit and have you embraced that challenge?) – “Yeah, it’s funny. You wake up one day and then after free agency and whatever and you’re like, ‘wow, I am the oldest guy’ or the most experienced, I guess, in the room. You kind of have to put yourself in that mindset of ‘I’m going to be the leader. I want to be the leader. I want to have my guys. I want to have somebody they can lean on when things are hard or advice with anything.’ I embrace it. I wasn’t appointed or anything like, ‘hey Jesse, you’ve got to do this.’ It’s more so that this is what I want to do. I started reading a lot of leadership books, too, to try to figure it out and more importantly – kind of like a Navy SEAL book – they’re all about teamwork and how they can build each other up and they can rely on each other. Those things I kind of did this offseason with all of the time I had on my hands and it kind of just gave me a different perspective on how to lead.”
(Obviously the NFL has not gone to a bubble scenario yet. Seeing the struggles that Major League Baseball has had without a bubble, what would your thoughts be if they asked you to stay at the hotel basically between now and New Years?) – “Yeah, that’s a tough question to ask anybody, especially with who has families and stuff. I don’t have any kids. For me, if that’s what we have to do, then that’s what we’d have to do. I’d definitely do it just to play the game and obviously help this organization play football; but yeah, that’s a tough one to ask. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to that depending on the circumstances of an individual, but we’ll see how this kind of plays out for them as well and see what the right way to do it and the wrong way to do it. I think what our organization has done so far has been great. They put us in a safe organization and it’s cool to see and it’s cool how much they care about an individual and their staff and their players and everybody in between.”
(I just wanted to ask you about your new offensive line coach, Steve Marshall. He’s got over 40 years of experience coaching football. How does that experience benefit such a young offensive line room and just talk about what he offers as a coach, a teacher and a leader?) – “I was with (Offensive Line) Coach (Steve) Marshall with the Jets when I did a little short time there – training camp and then I think a week of practice squad – but he offers tons of knowledge. He’s seen probably every technique you can get from different players to different styles of play and any question you have, he answers it on-the-fly and it’s been great, especially with our assistant coach ‘Lem’ (Assistant Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre). He’s played the game. I played with him in Seattle actually, so I knew him from a short stint (there) as well; but he offers a great way to look at the game, too, on how a player looks at it instead of a coach, and I think them two together is a good marriage for our room.”
(I wanted to ask you about being a football player kind of your entire life. You’re conditioned to play through bumps and bruises. Is there any conversation about like, ‘hey, you can’t take a runny nose slightly anymore’ or ‘hey, a sore throat needs to be take really seriously,’ when normally that wouldn’t be something that would keep you from showing up to work?) – “Right. Yeah, that’s the weird topic of the conversation we had, is usually you play through your sicknesses. You play through – like if you had a runny nose or a cough or something – but now it’s such a serious matter. We took an approach that’s like, you don’t know what the guy’s going home to. Is he going home to like a 70-year-old grandmother that’s living with him or a pregnant wife or that kind of thing; so you’ve got to be selfish in that regard of ‘hey, you’ve got to take it seriously. If you have any symptoms, make sure you let everybody know.’ It’s not just about the guy next to you. It’s obviously your well-being, as well, and then obviously the public that you go out to or the grocery store or something. So yeah, it’s definitely a different approach. I don’t think anybody really likes it, but that’s the way it’s going to be and I think with all of the guidelines and settings we have, I think it’s a good way to go.”
(You’ve played tackle, guard, center and let’s not forget you’ve played defensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins. When you guys actually start whatever it is – the 12th or the 17th. I know the 17th is like actual real football. What have you been told? Are you going to start off then at guard or tackle?) – “Nothing yet. We’ve just been rotating around, especially with all of our rookies trying to get them the reps instead of worrying about the vets right now, whoever’s with us in the injury group; but I’m just trying to bring those guys along as well because they didn’t have any OTAs, they didn’t have the meetings. So I’m just trying to drop them knowledge like, ‘hey, the linebacker might do this on this play’ or ‘the running back’s going to do this, so watch for this.’ But nothing on position-wise. I’m just kind of rolling with the punches and like I said, if they want to put me at left tackle again, so be it. It all pays the same for me.”
(I know when I saw you at the stadium in February at the business event, you had said ideally you’d love to know by the end of April whether you’d be at tackle or guard? Has Head Coach Brian Flores or anyone given you any idea? I know you just said obviously you don’t know for sure, but have they given you any idea which is more likely?) – “No, they just – primarily they just said right guard or right tackle. They said to probably work some left, that way you still have it; but right now, everything’s kind of up in the air. You never know who’s going to be up, who’s going to be down. Primarily, I’ve played more on the right side, so I guess I’d probably say something on the right side; but at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter. I can adjust to it.”
(I guess what are your conversations with guys this offseason over the phone or in the facility? What do you feel like is the level of fear general coming back and playing? Do you see guys are just saying, “hey, this is my job. I’m going to do it regardless” or is there a higher level of fear that you may see between guys?) – “I think the fear comes out when we start talking about it more. I think once we’re in the building and around each other and back to normal – obviously we all wear masks in the building, and then if you want it on the field, you can as well – but there hasn’t been somebody going like, ‘hey, make sure you stay away from me.’ It’s more so you have your own respect for the guy next to you. Like you make sure you’re already six feet away or a farther distance than that. We also wear these contact tracers, too, so it kind of tells you. It starts beeping or flashing on your wrist if you’re too close to somebody, so that’s a good reminder as well. The fear is there, but it’s not – I guess it’s not very shown on somebody’s face or somebody’s body language. I think right now, I think they’ve done such a good job and that’s the primary mindset for a guy. They feel safe in that building and that’s the way it should be and it’s nice.”
(I wanted to ask you about QB Tua Tagovailoa. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick came on and sort of was praising the fact that he has this presence about him. How much have you interacted with him, not just this offseason but since you’ve been in the building, and what have you noticed?) – “Yeah, especially interacting with him in the building, it’s just been – he’s a humble guy and it’s nice to see that because I kind of pride myself on humbleness, too, and how he works and how he presents himself in the building and how he shows ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) that he’s willing to learn and not like, ‘hey, this is my spot’ or something like that. It’s very nice to see a young star like that come in and be ready to work and he’s always on the field telling us, he’s like ‘all right, let’s go. Next play.’ (He’s a) very up-tempo kind of guy, so it’s nice to see that as well.”
