INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Nate Davis is used to putting on a show in central Indiana. What’s one more?
The Ball State quarterback led the Cardinals to a 12-0 start last season and got a lot of looks from NFL scouts. None as close as the scrutiny he’ll be getting at the NFL combine.
“I need to go and show my ability to throw the football,” the 6-foot-2, 226-pound Davis said Friday. “I’m trying to show myself off to all the NFL teams, just trying to find someone to fall in love with me.”
Davis left the Cardinals a year early, shortly after coach Brady Hoke departed to take the job at San Diego State just before their final game. He’s still the schools career passing leader with 9,233 yards and 74 TD passes.
as very close. When he went to San Diego State, I still talked to him every day, just him giving me advice what I should do. So he was a big impact.”
Last season, Davis threw for 26 touchdowns and only eight interceptions, and his quarterback rating was 13th in the nation.
Known for a strong and accurate throw, he said he’s been told he could go anywhere from the first through fourth rounds in the April 25-26 draft.
And he doesn’t have a preference – never did.
“I never had a favorite team; I just loved watching football,” said Davis, from Bellaire, Ohio – Steelers country across the river from northern West Virginia. “I’m just trying to find one right now. I’d like to play for any team right now. I’m just trying to find that one.”
—
DEFENDS TAG: Houston general manager Rick Smith defended the decision to use the franchise tag on cornerback Dunta Robinson, who a day earlier said he felt “betrayed” and accused the Texans of lying to him.
Smith said he had indicated to Robinson that he didn’t want to use the franchise tag, but his stance changed during the contract negotiation.
“We had a value that we had placed on him … and we offered him a deal that exceeded that. So we changed a lot of different positions as the thing went on,” Smith said.
y, so when they elected to exercise their right of declining our offer that was going to make him one of the highest-paid corners in football, we exercised our right to tag him. … Now he’s upset about it, I understand that, but it’s a decision we felt was best for our organization.”
Without the franchise tag, the first in the team’s history, Robinson could have signed with any other team as an unrestricted free agent.
Now the tag guarantees him a salary of $9.96 million for 2009, the average of the NFL’s five highest-paid cornerbacks. Other teams can still make an offer to Robinson, but the Texans can match it or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation. Smith said he wants Robinson, the 10th player taken in the 2004 draft, to remain with the Texans.
“He’s very, very important to our football team, to our defense,” Smith said. “We’ve got a new defensive coordinator, Frank Bush. We want to play aggressively. He can do some things we want to do, which is why we had the kind of deal on the table that we had, and that’s why we worked so hard to try to get him signed. It didn’t work out, so hopefully we’ll continue to work with him to try to get a deal.”
He wouldn’t put a timetable on negotiating a long-term contract.
s going to pick back up, I don’t know.”
—
QUARTERBACK SEARCH: The San Francisco 49ers still haven’t given an indication whether Shaun Hill will remain the starter at quarterback for new offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye.
The veteran backup led the 49ers to five wins in their final seven games – he was NFC player of the week in Week 11 – but the team still finished 7-9 for its sixth straight losing season. Mike Singletary, who promoted Hill to starter at midseason, was retained as coach, but the team is still considering a move at quarterback, either through the draft or free agency.
“I’m not going to get into names. The important thing now is which ones fit (Raye’s system),” 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan said Friday. “It has to be a chemistry where he fits in with everybody. There’s value out there, and it’s a position we need to address, whether it’s the draft or free agency. … It’s a position that’s very hard to figure out.”
Free agency “is a tool you can use, and we have used,” he said. “We’re at a point now where we start investing in our own guys. We want to be a team that builds through the draft, but you can never lose sight of free agency.”
Singletary, who was 5-4 as interim coach last season, is attending his first combine as a head coach.
erviewing the draft hopefuls, but he’s wary that some players might try to inflate their worth at the combine.
“The unfortunate part about it, there are a lot of guys that will come here and they’ve been trained by their agent to say certain things and they know key words to put in,” Singletary said.
“But there’s something about that gut of a player that you’re really looking to,” he said. “For me, it’s more body language, it’s more about that connection, it’s more eye contact.”
—
AIR DELIVERY: The New York Jets are still weighing their free-agent options.
If they decide to go after players, general manager Mike Tannenbaum plans to move decisively.
“We’ll look at our needs, look at our free agents, look at trades and look at the draft,” he said Friday. “If free agency is the best way to go about it. We’ll hit it hard.”
What the Jets want is an entirely different matter.
Tannenbaum reiterated that New York likes the three quarterbacks on its roster and may not need a high-priced veteran to replace Brett Favre, who has said he’s retiring again. And while linebacker Ray Lewis has suggested he’d consider playing for the Jets, team officials can’t comment yet because of league tampering rules. The free-agent market opens next week.
ially on defense.
“I think if you look at Baltimore, that would be a pretty good model,” Tannenbaum said, referring to the defense new coach Rex Ryan built with the Ravens. “We’re looking for explosiveness, quickness, guys that get off blocks, and if you look at (Ryan’s) history, he likes versatility.”
—
AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed to this report.
Add A Comment