Jarrad Davis spent nine weeks away from the football field and had to battle the doubts and questions in his head while he was sidelined with an ankle injury.
“It’s challenging. It’s tough,” the Jets linebacker said. “There were days when I was like, ‘Man, am I going to be able to come back and play good?’ I started off pretty good building myself, establishing myself within this defense and getting better, getting the reps, and then I go eight, nine weeks without playing any ball. I’m like, ‘Dang, do I still have it?’ Those questions start coming up.”
The Jets signed Davis to a one-year, $5.5 million contract in March, believing he would be a perfect fit in head coach Robert Saleh’s defense. Davis was having an impressive training camp when he injured his left ankle in a preseason game against the Packers. The injury put Davis on injured reserve to start the season and kept him feeling like an outsider to the team.
“This one was tough,” Davis said. “Just being away from the guys, man, it was really hard not to separate. I took care of myself as a human being outside the football player while I was hurt. I come in, I’m getting my work in with everybody, I’m conversating and I’m talking about things about life. In my life outside of the building, I’m enjoying my life with my loved ones, my family, communicating with everybody and just staying in a positive place. Taking those necessary steps to keep myself upbeat and not really focusing on the fact that I can’t play football, I can’t do this, I can’t do that.”
Davis said he focused on sending out the negative thoughts and concentrating on the positive.
“I used that time to really learn to control myself, and whenever it was time to really unleash, I just had all that energy stored up and I’m ready to go,” Davis said.
That time came last week when Davis returned to the field against the Bengals. He was limited to 67 percent of the defensive snaps, but had three tackles and was active all over the field. His impact was felt by the defense.
“I thought he did a really nice job, first game back in a while,” Saleh said. “Again, his playing legs underneath him and the speed at which he can play, his length, all that stuff, he’s a hard hitter, he’s a great communicator, and I thought he did a really nice job. And for him, again, let’s stacked it up, put a little bit more on his back and continue to build his playing strength.”
Davis said he felt some rust, but knew he probably would after two months on the shelf.
“I think that was expected,” Davis said. “I pretty much told myself I just want to come out here and just get back to what I know, get back to who I am. The biggest message I told myself is you’ve got to start somewhere. I didn’t really come out there with super-high expectations. I just wanted to make sure I come out there and do my job. I really put a lot of work into it in the week as far as preparing and just going out there and making sure that I was going to be somebody to communicate and make the guys around me feel comfortable, as well as myself.”
Davis came to the Jets after four years with the Lions. He has established himself as a vocal leader on the team already, something he said he never felt comfortable doing with the Lions.
“In Detroit we would make a mistake or something would feel kind of iffy and we wouldn’t really say anything,” Davis said. “I would go home and beat myself up for not saying anything. Now, when there’s an opportunity to speak or there’s something I feel like I’m not clear on or guys around me are not clear on, I’m not going to be afraid to say it. I’m just trying to have a conversation. I’m not trying to attack anyone. It’s a people thing as much as it is a football thing.”
Davis said Jets coaches welcome input from players.
“You have to understand this is a collaborative operation,” he said. “They are coaches. We are players. But if we can all get on the same page and work together, this thing can really grow and become something it hasn’t been in a long time.”