There’s one New York Jets player who truly deserved his first Pro Bowl nod and that’s Demario Davis. Here’s why he was gypped.
For the second straight year, the New York Jets were blanked in the Pro Bowl voting. While the most surprising snub is clearly Demario Davis.
With two games to go, Davis already has surpassed his career-high in tackles (117 combined) and sacks (five). His 84 solo tackles rank fourth in the NFL. He’s galvanized a Jets defense that was supposed to be terrible.
NFL players aren’t supposed to have career-years at 28 years of age. Davis has.
Here are the linebackers that made the Pro Bowl ahead of Davis.
- (AFC) Inside/middle linebacker: C.J. Mosley*, Ravens; Ryan Shazier, Steelers
- (NFC) Inside/middle linebacker: Luke Kuechly*, Panthers; Bobby Wagner, Seahawks
So how does he compare to his contemporaries that made it in?
- CJ Mosley: 121 combined tackles, one sack, and two interceptions
- Ryan Shazier: 89 tackles, zero sacks, and three interceptions
- Luke Kuechly: 107 tackles, one sack, and three interceptions
- Bobby Wagner: 122 tackles, one and a half sacks, two interceptions
With all due respect, he ranks second among this group in combined tackles and he ranks first in sacks. The one weakness in his game has always been coverage, and he has no interceptions on the season. Outside of that, he’s better than most of the players who made it over him in this blatant popularity contest.
Davis is in the last year of his deal with the Jets. When he first came over via trade, he made financial sacrifices to make this marriage work:
“Davis, due to make a non-guaranteed $3.7 million in the final year of his contract, will now make $1 million in 2017, a source told ESPN NFL Insider Field Yates. “That includes a $100,000 signing bonus and a $900,000 base salary. He also can earn $1.225 million in incentives. He re-worked his deal at the time of the trade.”
Expect Davis to return next season with the Jets set to have north of $80m projected in available cap space.
