Jarrad Davis arrived in Detroit as a football player. He returns, five years later, as a father, a husband and a man of spirituality who also plays football.
Davis signed with the Lions on Friday, reuniting with the team that drafted him a year after admitting he "contemplated walking away" from football during his first stint in Detroit. He has found the balance his life was missing: "a new No. 1." He showed up to his re-introductory press conference at the team facility wearing a black sweatshirt with block white letters across the chest that read: FAMILY FIRST.
"Football has been my No. 1 for so long," Davis said. "I’ve been playing this game since I was 6 and I’ve loved it since I stepped on the field. Finding something to challenge me just as much as football does, if not even a little bit more, that is honestly a little more fulfilling, makes football a lot easier. And that’s my spirituality, my relationships, my life with my wife, my child.
"Different things like that to help me understand that this life has more things in it than just football, makes things a little easier and makes the weight a lot lighter."
By now, Davis was supposed to be a star in Detroit. Drafted 21st overall in 2017, he was the linebacker of the future for the Lions, the next centerpiece of their defense. It never came to be. Davis flashed as a pass rusher but was otherwise overmatched, not quite fast enough, not quite shrewd enough to make up for it. He played barely a third of Detroit's defensive snaps in his final season, after which Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell arrived and let Davis walk.
But Campbell always liked Davis from afar. He liked that he played hard and hit harder. And Davis always had a place in his heart for Detroit, even after four disappointing seasons, even after leaving to sign a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Jets. Davis also took a liking to Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn when he sat down with them in free agency a year ago. So when they came calling again this year, Davis said his heart led him home.
"The familiarity. Knowing that this is the place that pretty much raised me and knowing how much I enjoyed it, especially getting a chance to realize how much I missed it while I was gone. Every time wasn’t always a good time, but I’m telling you, ball here is fun. I love playing, I love playing in that stadium, I love being around the city," said Davis, adding "the Michigan summers" don't hurt. "I just enjoy this place man, I really do. It just feels right. Even thinking about being here again, it just feels right, more than anything."
We'll see how it looks on the field. As much as Davis struggled with the Lions, he was worse last season with the Jets. He ranked dead last out of 103 NFL linebackers who logged at least 200 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He did miss the first two months of the season with an ankle injury, and Davis said he "wasn’t my same self" when he tried to play through it. He said he's learned to accept the fact that it's sometimes better to miss games than to play hurt.
"I’ve done a lot of work to take care of myself and get myself back to where I need to be," Davis said. "And the offseason is really early still, so going to be doing a lot more work to bring forth my best product this year."
Davis joins a linebackers corpse that could use a boost. The Lions bring back Alex Anzalone, Davis' teammate at Florida, and Derrick Barnes and just added free agent Chris Board from the Ravens. It's a group light on playmakers, and that's a problem better solved in the draft. But Davis is eager to give the Lions whatever he's got left, in a defense that should make better use of his talent than the one he left behind. He pointed to the "simplicity" of Glenn's scheme, "where guys can just go out and play fast."
"We have an understanding of what exactly we need to do on each and every down, so we can just go out there and executive," Davis said.
He came here at the age of 23, under the weight of expectations and self-imposed pressure. He wobbled on his own, and then he collapsed in a bad defense. He returns at 27, unburdened by football but still in love it, ready for a "brand new" start that might be his last chance in the NFL.
"It’s amazing how life works," Davis said. "You step away from something and you don’t know what’s going to happen after you turn your back and walk out the door. You don’t know if that door’s ever going to open again, you don’t know what it’s going to hold, you don’t know what the reunion looks like, you don’t know if there’s even going to be a reunion. It’s just amazing to have an opportunity to come back in this building to go to work. I love it."
"This place is just so familiar," he added. "I know it."