Deshaun

Davis

Davis excelled for Gus Malzhan at Auburn, racking up 266 total tackles in his career, with his 2018 season being standout. He piled up 116 tackles with 15 for loss and earned first-team All-SEC honors. He had brief stints in the NFL and CFL, and will now join Malzhan’s staff for the 2022 season.

Davis dripped in notoriety in his final season with the Tigers, being voted first-team ALL-SEC with a conference-high in run stops (46). Despite his tackling prowess, Davis is undersized for his position and showed extremely poor athleticism across the board in Indy. His spot on the roster will inevitably come down to how DC Lou Anarumo utilizes the rook’s strengths in the middle of the field.

“NFL teams will like the experience and intelligence that puts him in the right place at the right time,” Miller writes of the 5-foot-11, 224-pound Davis, “but they’ll hope to hide some of his coverage and size concerns.” Coverage and size concerns coupled with poor athletic testing, we’ll add, as Davis finished with a composite SPARQ score landing him in just the 4th percentile of NFL linebackers while at the combine. The Auburn linebacker will be a candidate to go off the board at some point later on Day 3 when the draft boots up in a few weeks’ time.

Davis (5'11/224) picked up 61 defensive stops, which was five more than LSU linebacker Devin White. Davis also had the most defensive run stops with 46, so you can do the math on how many of these came in the passing game. Davis has some limitations due to his speed and athleticism, but the production for Auburn cannot be denied. He could be a steal with a Day 3 selection.

Zierlein describes Davis (5'11/234) as a “slightly undersized inside linebacker whose strength and toughness might be overshadowed by his athletic and speed limitations.” Despite recording the most run-stops among all SEC linebackers last season, Davis isn’t getting much love due to limitations as a linebacker. He’ll likely be a Day 3 selection with a ‘better than average chance’ to make an NFL roster.

Arkansas’ De’Jon Harris and LSU’s Devin White respectively came in second and third with 42 and 38 run-stops. While White is getting a lot of hype as a first-round pick, Davis (5'11/246) is viewed as a fringe Day 2/3 pick due to his limitations as an inside linebacker.

Davis (5'11/246) saw his stick rise with excellent performances over the first month of the year, and while he cooled off as the season progresses, he still finished the year with 103 tackles, 14 of them for loss. Scouts note his ability to diagnose plays, and he obviously has the athleticism to make plays when he does. He’s limited to inside linebacker, but he could be among the first at the position to go, likely near the end of Day 2 or beginning of Day 3.

Rang acknowledges that LSU CB Greedy Williams was the best player on the field, but it was Davis (5'11/246) who saw his stock rise the most. He had 13 tackles -- four of them for loss -- and and he also broke up a pass and had a quarterback hurry for good measure. As Rang summarizes: “Davis is a classic example of a “see it, hit it” MIKE ‘backer, impressing Saturday with his ability to correctly diagnose the action and close on the ball in a flash, while often delivering thunderous blows to the ball-carrier.” This is a name to keep an eye on going forward, to be sure.