I love what I hear about his leadership and the mental edge he carries. He's not a "me" person, but a leader and relentless worker (which is what seems like ZT has as his #1 characteristic). If he can clean up his tackling technique (seen a few games he didn't have the best form, but got by because he does have NFL talent), get a little faster/stronger, I think he'd be a nice rotational guy. Maybe start in a few years.

Bengals.com wrote this article about him.
https://www.bengals.com/news/lb-davis-destined-for-stripes

4.50
4.53
4.72
4.86
4.93

What are those?

The 40 times for:
Jordan Evans
Malik Jefferson
Nick Vigil
Preston Brown
Vontaze Burfict

i wouldn't concern myself too much with DD's 40 time.

Now if you want to talk LB 40 times. New acquisition Noah Dawkins ran a 4.41 with a tweaked hamstring.

Former Auburn alumni TKO likes him:
https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2019/05/14/takeo-spikes-high-praise-bengals-rookie-deshaun-davis/

Quote:“The beautiful thing about him is he’s advanced from the mental side of it. Mentally he’s there,” Spikes says. “I’m happy the Bengals gave him an opportunity to fill a spot and I do believe he can fill a spot.”

“He’s a big picture guy. A really big-picture guy,” Spikes says. “Most guys are into the fame and all that goes with playing. But he wanted to know if he did certain things to get this, how he could leverage it to be in a better position when the game is over. That really attracted me to him.”

Reading through the posts you would think:

Davis never made a college team
Davis never made a tackle
Davis played in a weak conference
Davis was a wasted pick with 100% certainty

I am not an expert in analysis of college talent, but appears many think they are so sure is fun to read their posts.


I know he is coming to a team that needs a run stopping 2 down LB so I hope he excels and surpasses our resident critiques. If not, he was a 6th round pick so minor investment.

(05-15-2019, 01:39 PM)bfine32 Wrote: 4.50
4.53
4.72
4.86
4.93

What are those?

The 40 times for:
Jordan Evans
Malik Jefferson
Nick Vigil
Preston Brown
Vontaze Burfict

i wouldn't concern myself too much with DD's 40 time.

Now if you want to talk LB 40 times. New acquisition Noah Dawkins ran a 4.41 with a tweaked hamstring.

Agreed, 4.78 really isn’t all that bad for a LB. In the 4.7 range is where I’d expect a LB to be and Burfict was around a 5 flat from what I remember (maybe unofficial) so your time for him seems a little fast even.

I like his intangibles, his size and speed don’t bother me much. Especially for a 6th rounder. I’m excited to see what he can do. If he doesn’t pan out, oh well, but if he does we’ve got another steal on our hands. Definitely has a shot and is on a LB needy team so the stars may be aligning for him

(05-15-2019, 09:00 AM)Sled21 Wrote: What's the consensus opinion of this guy? I know the knock on him was his height, but being undersized was also a knock on Bush. 3 year starter at MLB in the SEC, All SEC Team. Pratt is getting all the press, but could this be one of our 6th rd. sleepers?

Per NFL Draft Prospects... (https://www.nfl.com/prospects/deshaun-davis?id=32194441-5638-7019-8819-a6fd3e0eaa86)

"Slightly undersized inside linebacker whose strength and toughness might be overshadowed by his athletic and speed limitations. Davis loves to swap greetings as a downhill run defender, but when the play flows wide or when he's forced to drop into space his effectiveness drops off sharply. With his limitations, his roster spot might be tied to scheme fit and special teams performance."

It seems like he is a good straight forward gap filler and tackler. 

However the bigger knocks on him are...

Mediocre instincts and lack of burst allow blockers to find him too easily
Struggles to maneuver through box traffic efficiently
Poor speed to range, chase and finish
Sitting duck waiting to be exploited by passing attacks

The 40-yard dash times are an old school stat. And they are more valuable for open field runners. But just comparing his 20 yard shuttle (the only comparable speed/acceleration combine stat) with other LBs...

Devin White 4.17
Devin Bush 4.23
Germaine Pratt xxx
Sione Takitaki 4.28 (3rd 17th)
Cody Barton 4.03 (3rd 25th)
Deshaun Davis 4.38
Fun fact: Andre Dillard, OT...4.4 (1st, 22nd)

(05-15-2019, 05:04 PM)PAjwPhilly Wrote: Per NFL Draft Prospects... (https://www.nfl.com/prospects/deshaun-davis?id=32194441-5638-7019-8819-a6fd3e0eaa86)

"Slightly undersized inside linebacker whose strength and toughness might be overshadowed by his athletic and speed limitations. Davis loves to swap greetings as a downhill run defender, but when the play flows wide or when he's forced to drop into space his effectiveness drops off sharply. With his limitations, his roster spot might be tied to scheme fit and special teams performance."

It seems like he is a good straight forward gap filler and tackler. 

However the bigger knocks on him are...

Mediocre instincts and lack of burst allow blockers to find him too easily
Struggles to maneuver through box traffic efficiently
Poor speed to range, chase and finish
Sitting duck waiting to be exploited by passing attacks

The 40-yard dash times are an old school stat. And they are more valuable for open field runners. But just comparing his 20 yard shuttle (the only comparable speed/acceleration combine stat) with other LBs...

Devin White 4.17
Devin Bush 4.23
Germaine Pratt xxx
Sione Takitaki 4.28 (3rd 17th)
Cody Barton 4.03 (3rd 25th)
Deshaun Davis 4.38
Fun fact: Andre Dillard, OT...4.4 (1st, 22nd)

I think you have to be very careful using numbers as the majority of your final analysis. I see it way too much in business, they say numbers don't lie, but do they tell the whole truth. I say no.

If numbers were 100% accurate, John Ross would be running by everyone. But, we know he is not. Davis seems to me to be a smart football players who studies opponents and gets more than the numbers from his results on the field. I am not saying he will be great, but why not let him compete in camp prior to putting him in the no way he makes team camp (I know you did not say this) some are jumping to it appears.

Deshaun Davis was a Darrin Simmons pick a guy he can turn into a special teams captain to replace Vincent Rey and Cedric Peerman.

It's a good pick he may even play as solid as Vinny Rey in a backup role. Time will tell.

I worry more if a LB can shed blocks and diagnose plays and tackle than about their 40 yard time.

Hopefully he won't be having to chase down RB's from behind.

To me Deshaun Davis is the perfect example of how complicated scouting really is. I have watched the guy play different times and he was making more plays than the other players on the field. So I don't understand the guys here saying he looks slow. But the professional scouts had him as a 6th rounder at best, so they are seeing something I can't.

I will say this about LBs and forty times. Playing LB is about reading, reacting, and then exploding over a short distance at the proper angle. A guy who can read and react 2 tenths of a second faster will make a hell of a lot more tackles than a guy who runs 40 yards 2 tenths of a second faster.

Do you guys realize how quick 2 tenths of a second is?

(05-15-2019, 05:44 PM)fredtoast Wrote: To me Deshaun Davis is the perfect example of how complicated scouting really is.  I have watched the guy play different times and he was making more plays than the other players on the field.  So I don't understand the guys here saying he looks slow.  But the professional scouts had him as a 6th rounder at best, so they are seeing something I can't.

I will say this about LBs and forty times.  Playing LB is about reading, reacting, and then exploding over a short distance at the proper angle.  A guy who can read and react 2 tenths of a second faster will make a hell of a lot more tackles than a guy who runs 40 yards 2 tenths of a second faster.

Do you guys realize how quick 2 tenths of a second is?

Thank you, Fred.  Davis has gotten rave reviews from Willie Anderson and Takeo Spikes. As others have noted, he's a leader. He wants to take over the huddle and be the play caller. At Auburn, he was a film junkie.  That helped him with his diagnosis and ability to anticipate a play.

He might be a liability in coverage, but he's a damn fine LB, if only for 2 downs. We had problems stopping the run last year. He'll make us better if and when we need to call on him. 

All in all, he's the kind of person ZT wants. Will he be the kind of player ZT needs? The jury's still out on that one. Time will tell. I hope so. He's a good kid. He's already asking about things he can do during his football career to be successful after his career. 

diagnosing a play can make a LBer who runs a 4.9 look like he runs a 4.5. Example: Burfict was one of the best I've ever seen at diagnosing plays. He was on the way to where the play was going to end up as they snapped it. He used down and distance and tendencies and formations better than anyone I've ever seen besides may Ray Lewis.
They say DD has the brains to do this too. So if he does his homework he could be pretty good. I loved watching the guy at Auburn, he's a fan favorite type...always hustling, always flying to the ball. I'm major rooting for him

(05-15-2019, 09:40 AM)jj22 Wrote: He's ok going downhill. Has good instincts. Speed, athleticism lacking. Tight hipped, poor coverage. Practice squad candidate.

This. His game tape is good but he’s kinda stiff n not as explosive as others. I think I’m a 3 -4 he would be solid.

(05-15-2019, 05:19 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I think you have to be very careful using numbers as the majority of your final analysis. I see it way too much in business, they say numbers don't lie, but do they tell the whole truth. I say no.

If numbers were 100% accurate, John Ross would be running by everyone. But, we know he is not. Davis seems to me to be a smart football players who studies opponents and gets more than the numbers from his results on the field. I am not saying he will be great, but why not let him compete in camp prior to putting him in the no way he makes team camp (I know you did not say this) some are jumping to it appears.

I just posted his NFL draft analysis, and compared his combine numbers with other top linebackers. The conclusion is up to the reader. I own the book, "How To Lie With Statistics" by Darrell Huff (because I thought it was outrageous). So I agree with you. But at this stage of the season, what else do we have? Even a stud at the NCAA level doesn't always translate to the NFL...

We've drafted a lot of LB's with potential over the years. Hopefully 1 of these guys pay off this year.

LB is such a weird position in college. These guys rack up a ton of tackles and it's so hard to evaluate them.

40 yard times is weird for LB because generally the play is coming at them. They may have to go side to side, but they have time general to get there if they can shed blocks.

Now, lots of fast LB's get blocked. Or they misread the play. Or they take the wrong angle. Or they miss the tackle.

As stated above, Burfict was a great example. He seemed slow and out of shape at times, but he'd make plays. In his 2nd year in the league, he had 177 tackles! That's insane!

Interesting thing with Burfict, his 1st 2 years were his best here. Out of his last 5 years here, he had over 74 Tackles only once. Coincidentally he never played more than 11 games in any season over his last 5 years here.

I think he has a good shot to make the team. He's smart, works hard, understands how to be the leader on the field. He doesnt have to be that great to beat out guys like Nickerson

I think he makes the team and I hope that turns out to be the case. With that said, he has his physical limitations but I think he can give the likes of Jefferson and Evans a run for their money in the LB pecking order on this roster.

(05-15-2019, 01:39 PM)bfine32 Wrote: 4.50
4.53
4.72
4.86
4.93

What are those?

The 40 times for:
Jordan Evans
Malik Jefferson
Nick Vigil
Preston Brown
Vontaze Burfict

i wouldn't concern myself too much with DD's 40 time.

Now if you want to talk LB 40 times. New acquisition Noah Dawkins ran a 4.41 with a tweaked hamstring.

He might be as good as Auden Tate! 

I see him as a guy that can be a leader on special teams because they need a new captain, and maybe one day he develop enough to handle some MIKE/WILL as a back up sorta like Vincent Rey.

It was a good pick. Special teams captain is important Darrin Simmons usually gets one pick every year.

His name isn't Nickerson or Rey and doesn't rhyme with Nickerson or Rey so I'm happy at this point.

Sam Mills was an undersized inside LB. He found his own way into the NFL and became a quality starter, not some journeyman hanger-on.

Since Cincinnati doesn't run many 4 LB formations, he's either in the middle stopping the run on running downs or off the field in obvious passing downs.

What's the big fuss for a 6th rounder?

Burfict ran the 40 in 5.09. Just thought I would leave that here.