Bills
Bills fourth-round RB Ray Davis discussed his upbringing which included both parents being in and out of prison, foster care and living in a homeless shelter.
“To be here and to understand everything that I went through, man, it’s hard not to look back,” Davis said, via WRGZ. “It’s hard not to bask in the moments of, dang, how did I get here? Why am I here? Every day I always question that. Not in a negative way, but in a way I’m like, man, I made it. I shouldn’t be here. Everybody knows I shouldn’t be here because of what I went through in my life. But I’m here.”
Davis explained taking a negative and turning it into a positive by using what he went through in order to help others in a similar situation.
“It’s okay what I went through,” Davis said. “It’s okay the situation that I was dealt with. But at the end of the day am I going to mope and cry about it or am I going to go be an advocate for people who were also in the same position I was? To go and prove that this can happen. You can come out on the other side. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. But for many years I was told there’s never a light. There wasn’t a light bulb. There wasn’t a lamp. There was not a streetlight. There was just complete darkness. When I realized I found that sliver of light I just kept walking towards it and I started to see doors open up for me. I understood that it took for me to talk about it in order for those doors to become even bigger and more open.”
Davis said he wouldn’t change a thing given the opportunity.
“I’m 1,000% thankful,” Davis said. “Again, without any of that stuff happening to me I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you. I wouldn’t be an NFL player. I don’t know what I’d be doing in life, to be honest with you. I was dealt with two roads. I could have went left. I could have went right. I chose to go straight.”
Davis believes his purpose goes well beyond football and wants to be an active mentor in the community.
“I think my purpose in life is really just to understand that I’m not just here to be a football player,” Davis said. “I’m here to be a man who can provide a spark in other people’s lives for them to achieve anything that they want no matter the circumstances or whatever’s put against them.”
Jets
Jets’ veteran WR Mike Williams is still recovering from a torn ACL but has been spending time in the weight room and doing drills during meetings.
“Well, it’s been a grind for me,” Williams said, via the team’s site. “Just showing up every day, putting in the work and the weight room, on the field, doing drills in the meeting room.”
Williams has been leaning on teammates for knowledge of New York’s offense and where to line up on the field.
“It’s just talking to those guys in the room. These guys been in the in the offense previous year. So me just picking each one brain, like, how do you run this route? Or talking to somebody like, when they call this formation, where do you line up? It’s just this route. So me just picking everybody around. Just try to learn the offense as much as possible, because I’m not actually out there.”
Williams has been impressed by the Jets’ receivers group and thinks each player is working hard in their offseason program.
“Those guys grinding. I like how hard they work. Everybody show up every day with a chip on their shoulder, and you can see it out there.”
Patriots
- When examining where Patriots HC Jerod Mayo will focus most of his time, Paul Perillo of the team’s site points out Mayo added experienced OC Alex Van Pelt and senior offensive assistant Ben McAdoo to ensure he has help on that side of the ball, as his background is on defense.
- Perillo writes it’s difficult to see Patriots first-round QB Drake Maye being the Week 1 starter given Jacoby Brissett has been the first-team starter in every offensive workout this offseason and “significantly” had more reps in practice.
- Perillo notes OL Michael Onwenu moved from tackle back to guard in the offseason program. However, he’s unsure whether that will be a permanent change or if New England will follow through on the goal of keeping Onwenu at right tackle.
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