Jesse Davis
Jesse Davis was without a team when the seventh and final round of the NFL Draft came to an end Sunday — but he expected that.
“I kinda knew I was gonna be an undrafted free agent anyways,” the former Idaho offensive lineman said of his draft stock.
Prior to the draft, Davis said his agent informed him he would have his choice of a few teams as an undrafted free agent. Davis said the two sat down and scanned a spreadsheet of the best possible destinations, which was determined mostly by the team’s offensive line depth.
One team stood out among the rest.
“Seattle was by far was the best choice,” said the native of Asotin, Washington. “I mean, it’s close to home, but it’s also that their depth chart wasn’t as deep as some of the other teams.”
Davis, however, almost lost his chance to sign with Seattle as an undrafted free agent. In the final two rounds of the draft, Davis said he started to receive calls from another team.
“The (Houston) Texans were calling me saying ‘Keep watching, we haven’t picked up any lineman yet and we could grab you here in the sixth or seventh round,'” Davis said. “Seattle was also texting me … and said ‘If we don’t pick you in the seventh, you can be a free agent and easily make it on this team.'”
The Texans decided to draft two defensive players and one running back with their last three picks, which was fine for Davis.
“I always followed Seattle because they were close to home,” Davis said. “I’ve always liked them, and the style they’ve been playing lately is just really fun to watch … It’d be pretty fun to be a part of that experience. It’s a Super Bowl winning program, which is really cool about it.”
Without hesitation, Davis and his agent made a deal with the Seattle Seahawks.
Not only will Davis be close to home with his new team, but he will also have fellow Vandal, Tom Cable, as his position coach.
Cable was an offensive lineman at Idaho from 1982 to 1986, and was also the Vandals’ head coach for four seasons from 2000 to 2003. After his departure from Idaho, Cable spent the next eight years bouncing around to different coaching jobs. Then in 2011, he landed in Seattle to join head coach Pete Carroll’s staff as the assistant head coach, while also taking on the duties of offensive line coach.
Despite the Idaho connection, Davis said he had never met Cable until he worked out with the Seahawks a week before the draft.
Davis said Cable has high expectations for his fellow Vandal and wants him to come to training camp prepared.
“He takes it to heart because he was once a Vandal and he coached for the Vandals, so you know he wants to see a tough guy come in,” Davis said.
At 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds, Davis said it sounds like Cable wants him to play offensive guard instead of his normal position of offensive tackle.
“My weight is lighter than what he wants for tackles because I think tackles over there usually run 325 (pounds), and I’m like 300 right now,” Davis said.
After coming to Idaho as a defensive tackle, Davis made the switch to offensive tackle as a junior. Injuries kept him sidelined for seven games during his final two seasons with the program.
Cable has experience turning former collegiate defensive linemen into NFL offensive linemen.
In 2012, Seattle drafted J.R. Sweezy, a defensive tackle out of North Carolina State, in the seventh round with the intentions of him becoming an offensive guard. Sweezy has been a mainstay on the Seahawk’s offensive line and is in line to start this upcoming season.
While Davis was the lone offensive lineman Seattle signed as an undrafted free agent, the team selected three offensive linemen in the draft — San Diego State’s Terry Poole and West Virginia’s Mark Glowinski in the fourth round and Buffalo’s Kristjan Sokoli in the sixth round.
Davis said he just wants to make the team.
“When it comes to second string and stuff, I mean, it’s all up for grabs,” he said of the competition at offensive line. “After (Sunday), it was really nice to have that feeling back where this is what I can look forward to, this is what my mind can get set to and plan for that.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @KorbinMcD_VN
Photo by: Nathan Romans