Vontae Davis Breaks Silence After Mid-Game Retirement During Embarrassing Bills Loss

TheSportster

By Rodrigo Lobato

Published Sep 21, 2018

Vontae Davis has finally spoken after retiring mid-game, and he doesn't regret his decision at all.

The now-retired cornerback Vontae Davis decided to finally speak out about his sudden decision to stop playing professional football at halftime of the Bills’ Week two loss to Chargers.

On Wednesday, the 30-year-old talked with Domonique Foxworth from The Undefeated about—as Foxworth rightly said—“the moment that changed his life.”

Davis said that before arriving at the stadium on Sunday afternoon everything felt normal, he wasn’t expecting to retire that day — until the game started and he didn’t feel right nor like himself, thinking that football wasn’t anymore for him. Moreover, he told Foxworth that even though the way he decided to leave the game could’ve hurt his teammates, he doesn’t regret the timing.

“I didn’t expect them to understand, that moment was shocking to me as well.”

“My intention was not to hurt my teammates.”

“In that moment, my intuition was telling me I don’t belong on that field anymore.”

The former Colts player has received a lot of criticism over the week from everybody—fans, media, former NFL players and teammates—fter his decision. The Buffalo Bills’ linebacker Lorenzo Alexander dismissed him after the game saying that it was completely disrespectful to his teammates.

Davis also added that he doesn’t even care about what people are saying about him because, after so many years of playing in the NFL, the ten-year veteran knew that this was the moment for him to leave the game and he feels great about it.

“And on a final note, Fox, leaving was therapeutic, bro. I left everything the league wanted me to be, playing for my teammates while injured, the gladiator mentality, it all just popped. And when it popped, I just wanted to leave it all behind. So that’s why I don’t care what people say. That experience was personal and not meant for anyone else to understand. It was me cold turkey leaving behind an identity that I carried with me for so long.”

The decision of Vontae Davis has been one of the most bizarre and controversial ways of retiring in the history of professional sports, ever. He did not only abruptly decide to hang up his cleats when there were 47 seconds left in the first half of a game while his team was losing 28-6, but he didn’t even say anything to any of his teammates or coaches—other than the defensive backs coach to whom he told about his decision before leaving—announcing his decision to everyone by an Instagram post. He felt that physically he couldn't keep going any more in the middle of a game and he dropped out, an unprecedented in the league.