TE Vernon Davis, San Francisco 49ers

HT: 6-3, WT: 253, Born: 1-31-1984, College: Maryland, Drafted: Round 1, Pick 6

2013 Projections

Average draft position

Current as of May 21st. [Full ADP list]

Overall: T Romo (76), J Stewart (77), Vernon Davis (78), S Johnson (79), C Shorts (80)
Position: J Witten (53-TE4), T Gonzalez (61-TE5), Vernon Davis (78 - TE6), D Pitta (85-TE7), K Rudolph (89-TE8)
Click here for a comparison of these players.

PPR Average draft position

Current as of May 21st. [Full PPR ADP list]

Overall: J Jones (71), S Johnson (72), Vernon Davis (73), D Pitta (74), T Hilton (75)
Position: A Hernandez (39-TE3), J Witten (45-TE4), Vernon Davis (73 - TE5), D Pitta (74-TE6), K Rudolph (78-TE7)
Click here for a comparison of these players.

Outlook

Vernon Davis, the 49ers' first-round pick in 2006, is a supremely talented athlete. He is very fast and very strong. But from a fantasy standpoint, from season to season and from week to week, it is hard to know exactly how Davis will be used. Throughout his career, he has bounced around from a high-end fantasy TE1 to a low-end fantasy TE2, and everywhere in between. At times Davis is the focal point of the passing offense, and at times he is kept in to block. Even after Kaepernick took over at quarterback last season, Davis had some fantastic weeks followed by dismal weeks followed by some fantasic weeks again. Given his huge upside potential, he will be drafted as a mid-tier TE1; but his volatility puts him solidly below the top tier.

Latest News

49ers | Michael Crabtree suffers torn Achilles' (Wed May 22, 02:15 PM) - San Francisco 49ers WR Michael Crabtree (Achilles') suffered a torn Achilles' tendon during organized team activities Tuesday, May 21, and will undergo what could be season-ending surgery.

Our View: Bad news for the 49ers here. Good thing they added Anquan Boldin earlier this offseason. Boldin now moves into the WR1 position and the team will look for help behind him. Players like Mario Mannigham, A.J. Jenkins, and Quinton Patton will now have a bigger opportunity.
link to story   

2013 Schedule

2012 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Davis was Smith’s 2nd favorite target on Sunday, as he was targeted five times, including the one shot down the field. The game’s progression didn’t call for much vertical attacking from Smith and Davis, but it is worth noting the longest pass of the game was between the two. On what was a major theme on Sunday, the Packer pass defense had a breakdown in coverage on a play action fake, leaving Davis to drag across the middle uncovered. Smith found him easily for a 29-yard gain, pushing the 49ers into Packer territory. On the same drive, Davis caught Smith’s 2nd TD pass of the game, on 3rd and goal from the four. Davis’ TD celebration brought a snicker from the Lambeau crowd as he attempted to dunk the ball over the goal post, but was ultimately rudely denied by the Anthony Davis-like pole.

Week 2 - Vernon Davis was a big factor in the 49ers winning the game on Sunday and is easily the best and fastest weapon on the field for their offense. Davis made the Lions pay all over the field with his athleticism and embarrassed defenders that tried to keep up with him at times. Davis scored on the first drive, hauling in a touchdown over the shoulder on a fade pattern against a LB that could not keep up with him at all. Davis had a shot at a big play down the field but he just failed to get it under control and it slipped through his hands. Davis at times caught several passes between defenders and then simply outran the defense for the first down, looking very athletic and too much for the Lions LB’s to handle. The linebackers for DET were simply outmatched and not able to tackle him in the open field on numerous plays. Davis slammed the door shut in the 4th quarter as he iced the game with a terrific touchdown catch. Davis caught a short pass on an out route towards the sideline and was able to juke his way around two missed tackle attempts before outrunning defenders into the endzone for the impressive looking score.

Week 3 - Davis is still Smith’s favorite target, with a team-high 8 targets. He was able to catch 5 of those targets for 53 yards and a touchdown. Often Minnesota struggled to keep pace with the speed of Davis, allowing the tight end to gain first downs on medium length routes. The catch that set up the touchdown came on a great move to beat the corner trying to cover him, and a great pass that allowed him to catch the ball over his shoulder and run to the 1 yard line. The next play was play action to the corner of the end zone, where Davis had beat every defender and was wide open. After that play, Davis was often kept in to block the aggressive Minnesota pass rush. He did have a very bad drop in the 4th quarter that would have resulted in a first down.

Week 4 - Davis received his only two targets during his team’s most important drive. With 1:11 to go before halftime, Davis hauled in a 25-yard pass and a short three-yard out to set-up a last second field goal. Davis was mainly used as a blocker during this blowout win.

Week 5 - The 49ers constantly used the speed and power of Davis to exploit mismatches, and the numbers reflect just how well the tight end was able to execute. In fact, Davis could have had a much bigger game as the tight end had blown by every defender to find space downfield and haul in a long completion, but the play was negated by a holding call. Nevertheless, Davis continued to be a large cog in the offense, whether he was running long routes downfield or finding the soft part of the zone. He made one catch with a defender right on his hip, but the accuracy of Smith’s floater allowed Davis to catch the ball in stride. On another play, Davis caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and shed a tackler, freeing himself to run in space for a long gain. His long catch of the day came when Buffalo tried to cover him with a linebacker, and Davis’ speed allowed him to fly right by the coverage. No matter how Buffalo attempted to cover Davis, the task proved impossible as the tight end was able to make catch after catch.

Week 6 - The Giants did an amazing job completely shutting down Vernon Davis on Sunday. Davis is often the favourite target of QB Smith but the Giants game plan revolved around making life difficult for the QB and eliminating Davis as much as possible from the passing game. Davis could only get his hands on very short passes from the conservative play by QB Smith. Davis is known for his big plays down the field helped by his elite speed as a TE but the Giants paid a lot of attention to the TE. The Giants played tight coverage, jammed him at the line and disrupted his timing while preventing the big play from ever happening. Davis’ QB struggled in a big way as well on Sunday which didn’t helped the TE’s production.

Week 7 - Davis' best work came as a blocker as he made the pivotal block that set Delanie Walker free for his touchdown reception and was always involved in Frank Gore's run blocking. Otherwise, he was not present in the passing game. Between the need for him to block against the Seahawks pass rush and the high quality of Seattle's safeties, Davis served his team better running fewer pass routes than usual in this one.

Week 8 - Davis did an excellent job blocking all game long, and his presence in the run game helped create some of the holes that the 49er running backs exploited. He was rarely used in the passing game, though his speed and route running was still obvious as he ran a seam route, beating Kerry Rhodes down the middle and catching a very accurate pass for his long gain of 25 yards. His only other catch of the day came on a play-action rollout in the 4th quarter, and the short pass to Davis resulted in a decent gain. Most of the game, Davis was either blocking or running routes that the defense covered, and Smith never forced the ball to him when there were other receivers open.

Week 10 - Another quiet day for Davis, who might have had a bigger game if Kaepernick had thrown an accurate ball while Davis was open downfield. Instead, Davis was often restricted to short catches and with tight coverage, Davis was often unable to get any extra yardage. His longest catch was down the middle, and with an accurate throw Davis was able to secure the ball while getting hit from behind.

Week 11 - After weeks of minimal production, Davis exploded with his highest yardage total since Week 5. Davis showed that all his power and speed hadn’t disappeared, as he consistently blew by coverage for long gains. His first catch was the result of play action freezing the defense, and Davis just flew by everyone to get wide open. Kaepernick threw a perfect ball over Davis’ shoulder, and the tight end caught the pass in stride. Kaepernick then went to Davis again, and the tight end caught the pass as three Chicago defenders had to converge to limit the play to 12 yards. Davis’ touchdown came on another play action pass, but this time Davis just had to go three yards as he streaked across the end zone, and Kaepernick hit the wide open tight end in stride. On the next drive, again Davis blows by coverage, this time Lance Briggs. The linebacker couldn’t match the speed of Davis, and with another great pass from Kaepernick, Davis was able to pick up 32 yards on the corner route. But the best play from both Kaepernick and Davis may have come in the 4th quarter, as Kaepernick faced the oncoming pass rush and bulleted a throw between two defenders, right in the arms of Davis as he ran in stride to meet a tackler. The power, speed and hands of Davis were obvious as he hit contact with a full head of steam, as well as the chemistry to complete such a precise play.

Week 12 - Davis was shutout yet another week; the second time in five games the tight end was held without a catch. He was used as a blocker and pass protector more often than not, as the Saints brought pressure often. He succeeded in that role, and his one target was a perfectly thrown pass from Kaepernick that bounced off of Davis’ chest. Davis was wide open and seemed to lose concentration.

Week 13 - Davis showed the power he possesses, as on both of his short catches he took a hard shot from the defender and kept his feet. He did have a sneaky play designed for him, as Kaepernick rolled to the right Davis cut to the left, hoping the defense would have rolled to the right as well. The safety recognized Davis cutting across and the play was well covered, forcing Kaepernick to throw it away. Davis also did run a good medium crossing route late in the game, but Kaepernick floated the ball too far.

Week 14 - Another poor offensive performance from Vernon Davis, as the tight end was targeted twice in the 1st quarter with minimal success and then never again. On the lone catch, Davis was hit immediately after a 4 yard gain. Kaepernick then threw again to Davis, but the throw seemed to be too hard for the tight end as the ball bounced off his hands.

Week 15 - Though Davis had one good catch on an out route, his most significant plays were two catches he didn’t make. On a potential touchdown, Davis did a great job of sprinting past his coverage and found himself wide open before the end zone. Kaepernick’s ball was a shade too far, but Davis made no effort to lay out for the catch either, satisfied to let the ball drop ahead of him. His second missed catch came on a crossing route where Davis was double covered and the ball arrived ahead of him, but Davis seemed to pull up instead of reaching for the pass, resulting in another play that could have been completed had Davis done more than the minimum.

Week 16 - Though Vernon Davis’ day was cut short, he contributed two big plays for the 49ers. In the 1st quarter, Davis ran a long post route down to the middle and Kaepernick threw a ball short of his tight end, but Davis was able to dive and get his hands beneath the ball for a gain of 27 yards. His second play resulted in the end of his day, as Davis ran a wheel route and was thrown to deep down the right sideline. The ball arrived at the same time as Kam Chancellor, and the safety’s hit was hard enough to dislodge the ball and injure the tight end’s head. The hit resulted in an unnecessary roughness penalty that set San Francisco up at the 10 yard line of Seattle.

Week 17 - In the 1st quarter, Davis caught a ball in the flat for a short gain and never threatened to make a play again. He has not only disappeared in the passing game, he no longer even seems to be a part of the game plan.

Week 19 - Davis was Kaepernick's target on his opening drive interception. Even though he didn't work back to the football as aggressively as he could have, it is impossible to blame him for the turnover. Davis couldn't make a very difficult reception for a first down on third and 10 when Charles Woodson darted infront of him to tip the ball away. Davis ran a double move against Tramon Williams in single coverage to draw a holding penalty. Davis finally caught his first pass of the game when he found his way behind the secondary on a deep seam route for a big gain on a perfect throw.

Week 20 - Just when the offense looked stale in the early second quarter and the team was down 17-0, Vernon Davis came to life. The Falcons seemed to roll coverage away from the tight end as he collected four receptions and came wide open on every one of them in the second quarter, including a play-action touchdown catch. As the 49ers mounted their successful comeback in the second half, Davis was surprisingly silent after his strong first half. Davis logged a single catch (and target) in the final 30 minutes, coming wide open yet again on a deep corner route. After a disappointing close to the regular season, Davis has been efficient in the playoffs, which will continue in the Super Bowl after the 49ers’ comeback win.