Vontae Davis, a two-time Pro Bowl defensive back in the NFL, passed away. Chester Frazier, the men’s basketball coach at Illinois, posted on social media Davis was thirty-five. Davis was a member of the Buffalo Bills for ten seasons before he abruptly departed from the NFL during a game. He was a player for the Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins as well. Before joining the NFL, he was a standout at Illinois University.
You beat the odds, you made it. You did it your way. It just wasn’t supposed to end like this.”
Miami selected Davis in the first round of the 2009 draft. He was traded to the Colts before the start of the 2012 season and he had a few great seasons with Indianapolis.
He joined the Bills after the 2017 season and only appeared in one game for them
Former NFL cornerback Vontae Davis was found dead Monday at a home in Southwest Ranches, Florida, according to Daniel Oyefusi and Grethel Aguila of the Miami Herald.
Davie police said officers were called to the scene and found the 35-year-old unresponsive. An investigation into his death remains ongoing and no foul play is suspected.
Davis spent 10 years in the NFL, the majority of which came with the Indianapolis Colts. He appeared in 76 games over six years on the Colts and was a Pro Bowler in 2014 and 2015. Team owner Jim Irsay mourned his death on X, with the Colts also issuing a statement:.
Davis’ career began with the Dolphins, who selected him 25th overall in the 2009 draft. In 121 games, he had 395 tackles, 22 interceptions and 97 passes defended.
How his time in the NFL ended might be the one fact remembered the most from his decade-long run. While a member of the Bills, he exited a 2018 contest against the Los Angeles Chargers and walked away from the sport entirely.
Davis told ESPN’s Brendan Meyer in 2019 it was “one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life, honestly.” Meyer detailed how the veteran defensive back didn’t feel anything physically but that “his mind felt far away — like he was going through the motions in the game he’d spent more than a decade playing.”
Davis reiterated when looking back that abruptly retiring was the right choice for him at the time because his heart was no longer in football like it once had been.
Before making his way to the pros, the Washington, D.C., native had a decorated college run at Illinois. He was a two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection and was a sophomore when the Fighting Illini reached the Rose Bowl in the 2007 season, their first trip to Pasadena, California, since the 1983 season.
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