Earlier today, Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group reported that San Francisco 49ers right guard Anthony Davis was once again contemplating retirement. Apparently, that was the case, but multiple sources have indicated that the 49ers and the coaching staff have been in contact with Davis all day in an effort to convince him to continue playing.
While Davis' status has been described as "up in the air," he is reportedly leaning toward playing rather than retiring after a valiant effort by those in contact with him today. The situation does not appear to be fully resolved, but at least for now, it sounds like Davis will remain in the NFL and with the 49ers. However, there are now some questions regarding his renewed commitment to the team.
The issue seemed to surround Davis' reservations about switching to guard – a move that he volunteered for. Or, at the very least, that was a part of the issue.
Davis retired last offseason and it put the 49ers in a tough spot. After all, the NFL Draft and free agency period had passed. There was not much the team could do to adequately address the loss, which contributed to the offensive line being one of the worst in franchise history. During his time off, he attacked the 49ers and, more specifically, general manager Trent Baalke via social media.
Now, the 49ers are on the eve of their season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, which kicks off on Monday. After a good training camp and praises from teammates and coaches, Davis is supposed to be the team's starting right guard. He had seemed to do enough to regain the trust of those teammates and even the Niner Faithful, because he was going to be an integral part of the team's revamped offensive line.
Davis filed for reinstatement into the NFL and was approved to return just as the 49ers opened training camp at the end of July. Having missed all of the team's offseason program and being forced to play catchup, Davis started training camp working at right tackle with the third-unit offensive line. He worked his way up into a battle with Trent Brown for the starting job.
Despite his hard work and continued praises from the 49ers, Davis was never able to wrestle away the starting job from the bigger Brown. So he went to his coaches and did something unexpected and selfless. That was when he volunteered to move to right guard. It was a great move by Davis who seemed to want to earn a starting role on the offensive line. He likely wasn't going to do so at a tackle spot.
Brown ended up impressing a lot of people, including teammates Joe Staley and Davis. He even got praises from Super Bowl MVP Von Miller, whose Denver Broncos practiced with the 49ers twice prior to their preseason game against each other.
Davis missed practice on Saturday for what was described as "personal reasons." When the 49ers released their final injury report before Monday's game, Davis was listed as "questionable." That was strange considering he had practiced all week leading up to Saturday's absence.
Following a bizarre Saturday storyline that dominated 49ers headlines, Davis remains with the 49ers ... for now.