Among those other guys are second pick of the draft David Bailey, of whom Davis said: “In the run game, you can see the explosion, the quick twitch. And in the pass rush, he’s hard to block. If he can stay on the track he’s on now, the sky’s the limit.”
Another teammate he enjoys working with, his next-door neighbor, is not nearly as young as Bailey but still well south of Davis’ 14 seasons and 37 years. Jamien Sherwood, Davis noted, was second in the NFL with 308 tackles the past two seasons combined. “I’m excited to play next to a super athletic linebacker like him, whether he’s turning the ball back to me or I’m turning it back to him.”
Davis also likes the youth in most of the secondary, and also occasionally trains his analytical eye to the offensive side, where he rattles off several players he likes, including one entire position.
“We’ve got three tight ends that can give you different things,” he told Allen. “You’ve got Ruck [Jeremy Ruckert], very physical at the point of attack and in his routes. You’ve got Mason [Taylor], who can do a little bit of everything. And then you’ve got [Kenyon] Sadiq, who can take you vertical. So that element of changeup is tough for linebackers because they go 13 and 12 a lot.”
Yet even in taking the figurative baton from Scott, Davis naturally notes that he’s not executing the handoff alone. Two new scrimmage pillars arrived with him in the offseason at 1 Jets Drive, not quite as experienced but similarly accomplished. One is close to his heart and has got his back and that’s ninth-year S Minkah Fitzpatrick.
“We were able to train together in the offseason and grew closer in our relationship,” DD said. “You think about that dynamic when you’re playing together as linebacker and safety, and I always think about Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. That tandem was so much in sync, those two had to be of the same accord. And so getting a chance to spend that time and grow with [Minkah] as a player, it’s well known who he is on the field, but off the field he’s equally impressive.”