Can Riff-Raff Tight End Group Surprise?

This is the fifth story in a series examining Green Bay’s positional groups. The first four parts were on the quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs and offensive line.

Tyler Davis was one heck of a quarterback when he showed up at the University of Connecticut in the fall of 2015.

During his final two seasons at Mepham High School in New York, Davis threw and ran for a combined 62 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Huskies had a proven signal caller, though, in Bryant Shirreffs. So before Davis began his redshirt freshman season, Connecticut coach Bob Diaco delivered some life-altering news.

“The head coach came up to me at the time and said, ‘Tyler, you can’t hold a clipboard on the sidelines. You’re too athletic. We need you somewhere,’ ” Davis said of Diaco’s message. “So he said, ‘Outside linebacker,’ and I was kind of like, ‘Oooof. Ahhhh, let me think about that one.’ He’s like, ‘How does tight end sound?’ And I said, ‘Sounds good.’ And it kind of just went from there.”

Yes, it has.

Now, with preferred starter Robert Tonyan recovering from a torn ACL, Davis has a legitimate chance to be the Green Bay Packers’ starting tight end when the season begins Sept. 11 in Minnesota.

While Davis could become a classic rags-to-riches story, his emergence also shows how weak Green Bay’s current group of tight ends is.

“If Tonyan’s not there, I don’t like the group at all,” one scout told me last month. “The fact they didn’t draft a tight end tells you they like those guys more than I do. Maybe they’re right, but I just don’t see it.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The Packers are hoping they see something in Davis others haven’t.

Davis played just 121 snaps last season — or 10.84% of Green Bay’s total. But he received several first-team repetitions this spring during organized team activities and mini-camps.

Davis has clearly made an impression on the people that matter most, as well.

When Green Bay opted not to select a tight end in April’s draft, general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked about the position. Quickly, he mentioned Davis.

“Tyler Davis … I think we might have something there,” Gutekunst said.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur echoed a similar sentiment this spring.

ADVERTISEMENT

“He’s a guy that’s going to give you great effort each and every snap,” LaFleur said. “And he can really run.”

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Davis had three relatively quiet years playing tight end at Connecticut, then had a mediocre final season at Georgia Tech. But despite catching just 64 total passes as a collegian (16 per year), Jacksonville selected Davis in the sixth round, in part, because he ran the 40-yard dash in as low as 4.65 seconds.

Davis played eight games with the Jaguars in 2020, then was released last summer. Davis joined Indianapolis’ practice squad, then was signed by Green Bay on Sept. 28.

Davis played 252 special teams snaps last year, more than any other offensive player and the fifth most on the team. Davis also saw his offensive snaps gradually increase and finished the season with four catches for 35 yards.

“This is what I love to do,” Davis said. “So, I would try to get here by 5:30 in the morning and I wasn’t leaving until 9 o’clock at night, just trying to figure out as much as possible as I could. Definitely interesting circumstances, to say the least.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The Packers have a bevy of questions surrounding their other tight ends.

Tonyan is battling back from a torn ACL suffered in Week 8, and it’s unclear when he’ll be ready. Former third round draft pick Josiah Deguara has had little impact in his first two seasons.

Marcedes Lewis is 38 and has offered little in the passing game for years now. And when given a chance to impress last year, Dominique Dafney was largely unavailable due to hip, hamstring and ankle injuries.

That’s left the door wide open for a player like Davis, who has every intention of barging through.

“Absolutely. Absolutely I feel like I’m scratching the surface,” Davis said. “I feel like last year … I gained some momentum for myself towards the end of the year that definitely added some confidence for myself going into this offseason into now. So definitely I feel like I’m scratching the surface. I feel like I could turn into a pretty special player.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Tonyan was becoming that type of player before tearing his ACL on Oct. 28 in Arizona.

Tonyan had a breakout 2020 campaign in which he caught 52 passes for 586 yards. Tonyan also had 11 touchdowns, which tied Paul Coffman’s record for most TD catches in a season by a Packers tight end.

Tonyan’s numbers were down in 2021, when he caught 18 passes for 204 yards and two TDs before injuring his knee. The Packers are optimistic Tonyan will be ready for Week 1, but as Green Bay learned last year with left tackle David Bakhtiari, there are no guarantees.

“I respect what he did. He’s done a lot of good things here,” Packers tight ends coach John Dunn said of Tonyan. “I’m excited obviously at some point to be able to get back on the field and be able to work with him.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Deguara could factor in, as well.

After tearing his ACL in 2020, Deguara caught 25 passes for 245 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. When you remove Deguara’s 62-yard touchdown reception against Detroit, though, he averaged just 7.6 yards per catch.

When the Packers drafted Deguara, they hoped he would become their version of San Francisco jack-of-all-trades Kyle Juszczyk. That hasn’t happened, though.

Deguara lacks the ability to stretch a defense down the middle of the field. And he doesn’t seem to bend well enough to play fullback.

There’s still time for Deguara to make his mark in Green Bay. But there’s no question this summer will be a critical.

“As the season progressed last year, it seemed like he was playing faster,” LaFleur said of Deguara. “Definitely knew what to do. Anytime you’re coming off a pretty significant injury like that, it takes some time. We were really happy with him at the end of the year and hopefully he can build upon that.

ADVERTISEMENT

“That play he had against Detroit was great. I think that really showed what he’s capable of doing.”

Lewis, the second-oldest player on the roster behind only quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was once an elite pass catcher. Those days are long gone, though, as Lewis has just 36 receptions in his first three seasons as a Packer.

Many expected Green Bay to move on from the 38-year-old Lewis this past offseason. But the Packers brought him back because he’s their best blocker.

If Lewis makes the roster — as expected — he’ll begin his 17^th season, which will tie the record held by Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez.

“My goal when I got drafted was to play 10 (years),” Lewis said. “I figured 10 was like, ‘Yeah, that’s a great career.’ I figured I’d be tired and ready for it to end. And then once I got 10, I was like, ‘Damn, I feel good, like I can still continue to do this.’

ADVERTISEMENT

“Got to 13 … Once I got to 13, 14, I was like, ‘Let me see what the record is.’ This year, I’ll tie the record. It would be great to break it and then I would consider, ‘OK, I’ve done that.’ 18 is kind of bizarre, especially at the tight end position. Yeah, I didn’t start thinking about it until later on in my career.”

Dafney remains in the picture, but is running out time.

Dafney is a solid athlete who played wide receiver at Iowa and fullback at Iowa State. In 15 games over two seasons in Green Bay, though, Dafney has just four catches and couldn’t stay healthy a year ago.

Top to bottom, Green Bay’s tight end room is packed with questions. But the Packers believe they have enough pieces to get the answers they want.

“Football’s a game of men who go out there and take what they want,” Lewis said. “In the tight end room, that’s what we’re going to be about this year. A lot of what we do in this offense is tailored toward what we can get done at the tight end position, whether it’s pass blocking, run blocking, being able to get out and catch the ball — all of that.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We’re going to have a lot put on our shoulders this year with Davante (Adams) gone and having to spread the ball around and running the ball a little more, which I love. So, one day at a time.”