New York Jets rookie safety Ashtyn Davis keeps it simple when traveling to practice. He has to, considering he has no car.
FLORHAM PARK, NJ—Sam Darnold, I call you and raise you Ashtyn Davis. The former’s early-camp claim that he’d be doing nothing but hanging in his apartment and playing football has been knocked off the top shelf by the latter’s daily routine.
The New York Jets rookie safety does not yet have a car while living in New Jersey. So what is the kid doing outside of football? Is he doing anything of note?
“No, not a whole lot,” Davis said after Wednesday’s practice. “I don’t have a car right now, so it’s pretty much here at the facilities and back home. (I’m) just taking care of my body and (learning) the playbook.”
The next obvious question was … well, obvious. How does he get to the facility everyday? I don’t think most of us would exactly picture Steve Carell on a bike en route to Smart Tech when thinking of this Cal speedster.
“I’ve been walking mostly,” Davis added. “They also have shuttles. I’ve been finding my way around. It’s not too far.”
Davis, 23, is not even thinking about a car at the moment. Folks, this is not Manhattan. New Jersey does not exactly offer the easiest of transportation for those without a vehicle. But hey, chalk it up to a Joe Douglas guy doing what he loves: football.
“No, not really,” Davis said when asked if getting a car was one of his immediate goals.
The hard-working safety continues to improve each day. That’s the scary thing when thinking about this kid. It’s not as though he’s been playing defense his entire life.
Starting out as an offensive player, Davis did not really understand defense until he walked-on at Cal (courtesy of his track and field prowess). And although some of his college tape showcases less-than-stellar football instincts, what he’s displaying at the NFL level in August has seemingly already surpassed those raw collegiate moments.
“I think he’s doing exactly what we’d hoped he would do when we drafted him,” Gase said of Davis. “I mean, being able to play multiple spots—you could tell the guy is super sharp, makes a ton of plays, seems like the ball finds him … guy’s just got tons of energy.
“He’s like the Energizer Bunny out there, man. He never stops. I mean, it’s really impressive. I’ve been impressed with kind of his maturity for a rookie and he operates from day-to-day. I’ve been impressed.”
With Marcus Maye currently battling injury, Ashtyn Davis has slipped right in there with the first-team. He’s playing high at the moment but Gregg Williams is not afraid of dropping him low when he feels it’s necessary.
Tuesday morning, Davis picked Darnold off and brought it back to the house after he started 2-deep and crept into a robber position post-snap. He’s continuously making eye-popping plays at practice in many roles, special teams included.
After all, the kid can do everything, which includes a daily work commute sans a vehicle. (To think Sam Darnold‘s story about home-to-work and nothing else was actually noteworthy is suddenly foolish.)
