Vernon Davis: Fantasy Football Achiles Heel or (Vernon Davis: Demon or Diva(o)?*)

* Is a male diva a divo?  I dunno.

The year was 2006 in New York City at the annual NFL Draft.  Commissioner Paul Tagliabue stepped to the podium and announced “With the 6th pick in the 2006  NFL Draft, The San Francisco 49′ers pick….Vernon Davis, Tight End from the University of Maryland.”

I was siced.  As a Maryland resident, I want to always give props to atheletes from the schools who move on to the pros.  At Maryland, VD was a beast; 78 receptions, 1,312 yards, and 9 touchdowns.  That is sickening for a Tight End (TE) AND that was only in 2 years.

It got better.  At the NFL Combine (I can write a WHOLE other piece on that one) , he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 secs, did the 225 bench press with  33 reps, and the vertical jump at 42″.  His physical specs?  6-3, 250 of dredlocked fury.  RI-DICULOUS.

I like many others felt he was going to be one of the new breed of TE’s that can line up in the slot (between the furthest receiver and the offensive line) and catch a pass 40 yards down field and still fulfill his blocking duties.  I looked forward to seeing him play, on the field and on my fantasy football team roster.  When draft day came, I scoped up VD with my 7th overall pick.  I did draft another TE in a later round, but we’ll get back to that.

So I was set.  I got my proverbial popcorn and waited simultaneously and with anticipation as I was geared with the 1st game of the season with my laptop directed to yahoo’s fantasy sports page and the tv on ESPN.

My team did well;  I believe I won that week and VD came thru with 5 receptions, and a TD (even though he DID lose me a point for the fumble).  YES!  I was about to dom-min-nate my fantasy league.  The next game I won, but something was different.  I scrolled down my stats sheet, nice….nice….Hmm! Very nice…good…..what?  Goose egg?

VD- no receptions, no TD’s.  In the 2nd damn game, a rampant case of Butterfingers. ALREADY.

Next week, same thing.  But he was pulled early due to a hairline facture in his fibia.  He ended up missing 6 games.  6.

This was supposed to be my sleeper weapon for fantasy. I figured I’d draft the potential phenom and win the TE category every week.

Not even close.  VD was out 6 weeks with the injury.  I decided to put him back in the lineup over a TRUE sleeper stud, Heath Miller.  What happened?

I decided to stick to my guns.  No problem, a slow start never hurt nobody as long as he can get back on the horse.  I started him the next 2 weeks which garnered me a whopping 2 receptions for 31 yards.  2.  In fantasy speak, that’s 2.3 points over a 2 week period. Pathetic (like this piece, but I’m leading up to something, bare with me).  That was it.  My man-crush for VD was over and I benched his ass.  Of course, the next 2 weeks he caught a TD a week; and that my friends, is called Murphy’s Law.

Anyway, I wrote all of that mostly to vent because I was #1 going into the playoffs and because of VD and the Cardinals bye week I didnt even make the playoffs.  The other reason is to set up the why; why is it that this phenom who had carte blanche to be a playmaker couldn’t perform?  Besides the injuries (he missed 2 weeks in the 2007 season), was he intimidated?  Over confident?

The answer may surprise you.  Outside of an incident that occurred on the field yeilding him an ejection from the game by Coach Mike Singletary last year, Mr Davis has a LOT of divo tendencies.

Case in point, his vanity.  There was a rumor floating around the league that before a game in San Fran, as everyone else was trotting out towards the tunnel, VDwas staring at a mirror gazing and admiring his shirtless body.  It took one of the coaches screaming at him to get his ass on the field.  Dude loves his body; he has no shame in showing it off in Ron Artest’s “Get Low” video, Under Armour commercials or the many, many, MANY photo shoots like this one for Status magazine.

Then there is the image-damaging article in Honey magazine.  In it he talks about interior design, fashion, and **gulp** murses.  I SHIT YOU NOT.

That’s the icing on the cake there.  Kinda hard concentrating on your plays when you’re worried about getting your uniform dirty or getting the right arm sleeve to match that risky scarlet color  **3 snaps in a circle**

Why does San Francisco always get these oddball personalities?  First there was Terrell Owens (again, another post in of itself) along with the quarterback Jeff Garcia who headed up a dog grooming fund-raiser, and now this.  I mean, is there a common….wait.  Nevermind.

Another case in point, his temper.  VD has a tendency to get edgy on the practice and game field.  We already talked about the VD vs Singletary incident, and this year he’s already off to a smashing start by beefing with another teammate which lead to the entire team having to perform a running drill.  Frank Gore (The Man as I call him) was pissed.   “I wasn’t mad about having to run gassers,” Gore said.  “I just feel it’s his fourth year now, and I told him it shouldn’t be him now.  Everybody makes mistakes but it shouldn’t be him.  OK, a rookie?  I accept that.”  And of course, Mr. Davis is no rookie.  Wow, full blast, huh?

So what is VD gonna do this year?  Kick some ass or kick it to Kanye? Schedule a day to review plays with the QB and QB coach or intern for GQ?  Photo shoots or shotgun formation?  The man is an enigma and quite unpredicable.  My guess is he’ll start the season out strong with about 3 TDs in the first 2 weeks, but then bust his ass in the locker room because he decided instead of cleats to wear a pair of scarlet Ferragamo driving shoes with gold trim to match his uniform and be out for 3-4 weeks with a strained high ass muscle pull.