Retired 49ers OT Anthony Davis Reiterates That He Plans To Play In 2016

On Saturday, retired 49ers OT Anthony Davis indicated via his Twitter account again that he intends to return to the NFL this season.

“I Will Play Ball. They Won’t Be Selling My Jersey Any Time Soon,” Davis wrote, via CSN Bay Area.

However, Davis later deleted the Tweet, which was in response to a question posed to him online.

According to Maiocco, those around the 49ers believe that if Davis were serious about continuing his NFL career this season, he would have already filed for reinstatement.

This past week, 49ers offensive line coach Pat Flaherty made it clear that Davis would have to compete for a job if he were to return to the team at some point and come out of retirement.

“And he knows this, coming from me, if he wants to play, then he’s got to come back and prove he can play,” Flaherty said, via CSN Bay Area. “It’s got to come from within. You can tell him exactly what I just said, ‘Listen, you’ll have an opportunity to play. But that’s all it is. You decided for whatever reason to retire. If you come back in the game, nothing is going to be handed to you. You’re going to have to work your tail off.’

“And the conversation that I’ve had back when I first got here, was he was acceptable to that. Now, I don’t see him. I don’t know why. So I can’t answer that one.”

Davis posted a series of Tweets a few months ago expressing some frustration with the team.

“I do not want to work with a front office or anyone else who seemingly doesn’t want to win as bad as I do,” Davis wrote.

There was even some talk that the 49ers could attempt to trade Davis. However, the draft came and went without any buzz of a potential trade.

While there have been indications that Davis could return, he has yet to file for reinstatement.

Davis, 26, is a former first-round pick who still has five years remaining on his seven-year, $39.67 million contract that included $17 million guaranteed. At the time of his retirement, he was set to make base salaries of $1.85 million (2015), $2.65 million (2016), $4 million (2017), and $5.375 million (2018-2019).

In 2014, Davis was limited appearing in seven games for the 49ers due to a number of injuries including concussion, knee and hamstring issues.

We’ll have more regarding Davis and the 49ers as the news is available.