On September 16, 2018, the Buffalo Bills were facing off with the Los Angeles Chargers. At halftime, cornerback Vontae Davis made a pretty startling announcement: he was retiring. Not after the season or even after the game — right then and there.
Obviously, this was pretty big news. Davis was one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL for quite some time. And anyone retiring mid-game would be newsworthy, let alone someone who is actually considered a pretty big star.
Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane went on the Pat McAfee show to talk about the situation.
"I got a text from the locker room basically saying Hey Vontae's done.. and I'm like done?"@Bills GM Brandon Beane on how he found out @vontaedavis retired at halftime #BillsMafia #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/taJEnzJlYR
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 15, 2020
Something most people assumed from the whole ordeal was that everyone must have hated Davis. He just quit on the team in the middle of a game.
However, that doesn't really seem to be the case. As McAfee points out immediately, everyone that meets Davis seems to love him. At the same time, McAfee says that former teammates have talked about the cornerback's exit. And it doesn't sound like they had many issues with it.
Then comes in Beane, and the first thing he does when McAfee brings it up is laugh. Not in an angry type of way either.
Beane just says “I've seen it all” when it comes to the situation. He then says that what happened in that moment is that he got a text saying “Vontae's done”.
Beane thought that meant the cornerback was done for the game due to injury or an argument with the coach.
Apparently, everyone was a little confused, not just Beane. That includes the players, the head coach (Sean McDermott) and even Davis' agent.
The general manager tried reaching out to him, and Davis did not respond how he thought. Not only did the cornerback not want to come in and try to work things out, he wasn't mad at all.
In fact, Davis said he was “good” and would even pay back his bonus. He seemed happy with his decision, wasn't upset with the team and was simply just ready to retire. Something clicked and he was done.
Beane was probably upset that he lost a talent like that at halftime of a game. But doesn't seem mad at Davis. Maybe this situation isn't nearly as juicy as everyone thought initially.
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