Welcome to the second installment of the newly reimagined "Lunch with Larry," which now features wide-ranging conversations with Bears-related guests about their lives and careers.
After speaking to Tom Thayer last Tuesday, my guest this week is former Bears cornerback and receiver Rashied Davis, a late bloomer who discusses his improbable and inspiring journey to the NFL. I caught up with Rashied while he was on the road and appreciate his time!
Every week I will select a "Lunch with Larry" fan question of the week, with the winner receiving a Connie's Pizza gift card. The question of the week can be found at the bottom of this article.
Here's what you need to know about Rashied Davis:
While the NFL is filled with former high school football stars, Davis wasn't one of them. Standing about 5-foot-2 and weighing less than 100 pounds as a sophomore at Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Calif., he suited up for the football team but spent most of his time on the bench.
"My high school career consisted of me playing football as a sophomore, never before that, and I remember vaguely having one kick return and getting blown up on the one kick return and not playing anything else after that," Davis said. "That was my high school football experience."
By the time he graduated high school, Davis had grown to 5-foot-10 and 140 pounds, not exactly a behemoth but big enough to resume his football career at West Los Angeles Community College.
Davis starred as a receiver at the school, earning a scholarship to San Jose State, where he blossomed as a junior in 2000, catching 40 passes for 785 yards and six touchdowns and leading the WAC with an average of 19.6 yards per reception.
Confident about building on that success as a senior, Davis instead was forced to deal with adversity when a new head coach hired by San Jose State didn't think he was worthy of playing time.
"I get benched my senior year after leading the team in receiving the year before," Davis said. "So I end up playing corner the last three-and-a-half games of my college career. Some may call it serendipitous or whatever. I believe that it was a God thing because at the time I was broken as an athlete, as a football player because it was really only my fourth year playing football seriously. I had never dealt with something so difficult, someone so difficult."
Davis excelled at cornerback, registering 26 tackles and two interceptions. He didn't know it at the time, but showing that he was capable of being a two-way player caught the attention of the Arena Football League franchise just down the road from San Jose State, the San Jose SaberCats.
Davis signed with the SaberCats and spent four seasons with them from 2002-05. He led the team to the AFL championship in 2004 when he compiled a team-high 1,785 all-purpose yards, including 46 catches for 484 yards and four TDs.
In 2005, Davis was named the SaberCats' most valuable player and offensive player of the year after setting team records with 44 touchdowns and 264 points while tying a franchise record with six TDs on kickoff returns. In his first season as an offensive specialist, he caught 100 passes for 1,420 yards and 30 TDs while also rushing for 8 TDs.
The Bears general manager at the time, Jerry Angelo, was suitably impressed and signed Davis to a one-year contract. After playing cornerback as a rookie, Davis was switched to receiver in 2006. He caught 88 passes for 1,032 yards and five touchdowns over the next five years, appearing in all 16 games each season. He also excelled on special teams, recording 65 tackles.
Davis will never forget his first NFL reception, which came in the 2006 season opener against the Packers, a game that the Bears won 26-0 at Lambeau Field.
"My first catch in the NFL was against Charles Woodson in Green Bay," he said. "I won't say I grew up watching Charles, but I watched Charles when I was in college, and I watched him when he was with the Raiders. I was playing down the street from him with the SaberCats. I'm a huge fan of his as a person as well as a player.
"For me that was like, 'Whoa, I just caught a pass on Charles Woodson and it's my first pass in the NFL.' At that point it was like I was uber confident. If I could do it against him, I could do it against anybody."
When Davis reflects on his football journey—from being too small to play in high school to climbing to the summit of the sport—he describes it as "extremely remarkable."
"You have to be delusional to some degree," Davis said. "I had to be somewhat delusional to think that I could be someone to play in the NFL, having started so late and not being very big … I don't have the pedigree that most others who have played do. To believe that I was just as capable as anyone else took a lot of delusion. You've got to be slightly crazy to think you can do this. But I did. I believed I could."
The winner of the fan question and a Connie's Pizza gift card is Eric C., who asks Rashied: "Since you started your Bears career as a cornerback, what was more satisfying, an interception or a touchdown catch?
Davis: "A touchdown on offense. I have a natural inclination toward that side of the ball. It feels great. It felt great to get an interception, too, just to prove to people that I could do whatever I wanted to do when I stepped out on the field. That's the only reason that I really cared about it. But I love catching passes, I love scoring touchdowns. For me, it's just more exciting. It's a more exciting position."
In closing, I'd like to thank Rashied for sharing his amazing story with me. I covered him throughout his Bears career and he remains one of my favorite former players to reminisce with and catch up with.
