Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas has been found dead according to multiple reports.
WSVN reports a male body was found Monday morning at a home owned by Davis’ grandmother in Southwest Ranches, Florida, about 30 miles outside of Miami. A source told the Miami TV station that the body has been identified as Davis.
Davis, the younger brother of Super Bowl champion Vernon Davis, was a standout football player at the University of Illinois and selected 25th overall in the 2009 NFL Draft. Vontae Davis spent 10 seasons in the league with the Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills.
Davis memorably quit at halftime of the Bills’ second regular-season game in 2018, and officially retired afterwards. It became one of the most talked about moments of the season and has been compared to other instances, like Antonio Brown’s abrupt exit in 2022.
“This isn’t how I pictured retiring from the NFL,” Davis said in 2018. “But in my 10th NFL season, I have been doing what my body has been programmed to do: Get ready to play on game day. … Today on the field reality hit me fast and hard: I shouldn’t be out there anymore… Mentally, I always expect myself to play at a high level. But physically, I know today that that isn’t possible.”
Davis finished his career with two Pro Bowl selections, 396 tackles, 22 interceptions and two sacks.
“We lost a great today!!!” tweeted Chester Frazier, an assistant basketball coach at Illinois. “RIP TO @vontaedavis man nothing but good memories of that dude in school!!”
“Extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Vontae Davis. A great guy, teammate, player. My prayers to Vontae’s family,” Colts owner Jim Irsay wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Life will never be the same without my brother,” Davis’ childhood friend, Bobby Maze, added on Facebook. “Them FaceTime calls etc damn I wish we could have one more convo. You beat the odds, you made it. You did it your way. It just wasn’t supposed to end like this.”
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