Dolphins release safety Keith Davis

The Dolphins have released safety Keith Davis.

This is a curious move for several reasons.

First: Davis has been starting on practically every special team the Dolphins play. He has, by all accounts, acquitted himself well on those special teams.

Secondly: The team is under the 75-man roster limit. It didn't need to release anyone. So it raises eyebrows that Davis would get released when there was no roster mechanism that required the move.

I spoke with agent Curtis Stephens, who represents Davis, and he is obviously not thrilled his client was released but assures me the transaction is simply a matter of a player being released for not meeting a team's need. Stephens read my previous post on this subject and was concerned it left open the possibility the release was caused by something other than the Dolphins going in a different direction -- which Stephens says is not the case here.

"Players get released in the NFL every day and this is no different from any of those instances in any way," Stephens said. "Believe me, there is nothing curious about this. There was no off-field issue involved in this and when you complete your due diligence, I'm certain you'll find that to be true."

I will trust Stephen's word.

Davis was listed on the team's flight manifest for Wednesday's trip to New Orleans. He was even given a room number. But he was told of his release before the team left South Florida so he didn't make the trip. The Dolphins, meanwhile, offered no comment on the Davis transaction.

Davis was signed as an unrestricted free agent from the Cowboys this offseason. He was part of the Cowboyfication of the Dolphins that included tight end Anthony Fasano, linebacker Akin Ayodele and others.

During his time with the Cowboys, Davis was shot twice in what appear to be random incidents. He was shot in the head in 2006 when he was driving along a Dallas highway. He drove himself to the hospital and was later released.

In 2003 he was shot in the hip and elbow while picking up a friend at a topless bar. Bill Parcells then released Davis on the first day of his first training camp with the Cowboys, but the player was eventually re-signed in 2004 and became a starter.

This release is not so great for Davis, but it benefits Renaldo Hill. Hill had been playing third team strong safety, to Davis' second-team, since the start of training camp. But of late Hill had been coming on strong and playing well, even getting an interception during one of the preseason games and earning the praise of coach Tony Sparano for his special teams play.

So Hill looks more likely to make the team now that Davis is gone.

Comments

[twgyer]

It's not so strange in my opinion. Davis is a special teams only player... Renaldo Hill has the talent to start at safety.

Who would you cut?

As for the timing... Davis was obviously a pet player they brought in from Dallas... and as his reward he's been let go a little earlier to catch on as a special team ace with another team.

[Scott]

Yeah - I thought Keith Davis was one of Parcells' "guys."

Maybe they just need to get things straightened out at Safety, as they've been pretty deep.

Sparano may be giving the safeties one more game to get the kinks worked out back there (with their starters)- without the confusion of the extra player.

I think that's been the style of them anyway - why we've been well below 80 players for a while now... they got rid of the extras, to clear some muddiness out of the waters and to focus on who's going to be playing a week from Sunday...

[Ken in San Diego]

What smells about it? He wasn't good enough to beat out his competition. You said it yourself. He is supposed to be a special teams ace, yet he had no special teams tackles in three preseason games. Sounds to me like this is a message to the team that NOBODY is safe, not even ex-Cowboys. You are hyperventilating over nothing, Mando.

[Ken in San Diego]

Oh, and another thought. Maybe they were doing him a favor, too, by letting him go so he can latch on to another team before the season begins.

[Chris J. Nelson]

Only problem with these other comments about there being nothing strange about this is that none of our other safeties are good strong safeties. Bell has no backup now.

[Tony]

Why does Courtney Bryan always gets overlooked by the media? Every time I see him I am very impressed by his size, agility and aggressiveness. He is a very good football player. This regime is finding out what the last regime found out. It’s hard to cut Courtney Bryan. So don’t be surprised if he makes it over Renaldo Hill.

[Paul]

Maybe Armando, they are clearing space to sign other players. So they are under the 75 man limit? What does that have to do with releasing someone. I would guess they know he isn't going to make it so why wait? My guess is they are looking to bring in a few players (Manning Jr.?) or some others for a look...

[Chris J. Nelson]

Courtney Bryan sucks. He's barely an NFL prospect. He even sucks when he plays in the fourth quarter of preseason games. There is no way Bryan has shown enough for Davis to be cut.

[Jimbo]

this guy is bad luck, randomly getting shot.

dolphins are quickly shaping the team, staying under max allowed players gives this team an advantage. fins have first rights on the waiver wire and WILL pick up a couple gems starting today.

[Tony]

Courtney Bryan is something even more important than being an NFL prospect. He’s an NFL player. If he sucks then why is he still on a team that’s pretty deep at safety?

[Paul]

Acquitted himself well on special teams??!! Do you know how many tackles Davis has on special teams Mando? Try ZERO.... That is another reason he is gone. he was brought in to solidify special teams and he hasn't done it so he is gone. Also, shows that just because you are a so-called Parcells guy, if you don't produce, you will be gone. How refreshing after hearing week after week excuses for everybody form Camoron and Wannstache.... Like him, or not, Parcells cares only about performance and has done an outstanding job assembling lines on both sides of the ball. We are significantly better there but still not where we need to be... Go Bess!!

[Paul]

Bryan will be lucky to last past Saturday, hard worker but he has little speed and was toast most of last season. He has done well to stay around this long but certainly will not be more than 3rd team...

[dr gloom]

This move stinks to high heaven. It's the last straw for the true Dolfan, and it signals the end of the Parcells Era. Can we get Wayne or the New Guy (Ross?) to step in, and rescind this monstrous error? My prayers are with Keith & his Family.

[Well]

See ya Davis, Time for Wilford to pack his bags.. Anyone hear about Marriman's decision to play on 2 torn ligaments.. The guy must have an IQ of 2, he wants to reach his escalator clause to make an extra 1.5 mil, so he's risking his career and lets say 40 million!! Not to mention he has to reach 12 sacks to get it (he had 12.5 on two knees last year!! what an idiot

[Tom]

The second time he was randomly shot, he was driving a cherry red '64 Impalla "driving home from church" at 5:30 in the morning on a Dallas freeway. May have been random, but gangsters don't care if your an innocent citizen driving a gangsta ride the wrong color.

[Al Knowing]

Tom---Aha! Parcells & Sparano are Crips!

[Misdiagnosis]

Some of you don't know a lot about Kieth Davis. You think because in preseason he didn't record a tackle he's not good? There's more to special teams than individually making the tackle yourself. The gunner can make a tackle or discourage wanted angles. Davis did one or the other every time in Dallas.

[Finheavenblows!]

Keith Davis is a quality player. The Dolphins have made a mistake. Good job getting the agent to clear his name, Mando.

[Matt]

Many of you don't understand what exactly Keith Davis does. The Cowboys were sad to lose him because of his leadership and his special teams play. Tackles have VERY little to do with ST play. He's the 'fullback' on punts and helps break the wedge on kickoffs. Those positions aren't tackling positions... And despite that, he still manages to get his fair share of hits... Just ask Devin Hester in last years game! Keith Davis is not a starting safety, but he is a capable ST captain...

[kd the hitter]

kd is a great player. You will see him on another team...no doubt...making big hits.

[Shakespeare]

I don't know one player from another on the Dolphins at this point. The only player I know is the kicker. What's his name?

[tarniman]

The Patriots might pick him up. They like ex-Dolphins

[HaleyWare94]

Some of you kill me. This smells big time. Obviously some of you Dolphin fans that are knocking Davis and letting this cut go so blase have no idea what kind of player you actually had. Keith Davis was not just an ace on Special teams but he was a stud. The fact that some of you have judged how well of a player Keith is based on his Preseason play says it all.
I know Because I've watched the guy play for the Cowboys and he is sorely missed let me tell you. Jerry did not want to get rid of him but Davis wanted a shot to start and was not going to get it with the guys ahead of him in Dallas. Jerry let him go and Bill was excited to get him. You also don't realize how much this stinks because something has happened here that I say has nothing to do with his play on the field.
I hope he has not found trouble again outside of football and pushed Bill's hand here. If you Dolphin fans knew anything about the relationship Bill and Keith had you would know that something seriously wrong has happened here. Bill really loved/loves Keith. He took him under his wing in Dallas when he got into all that trouble and the 2 of them became really close. So this is a big deal and those of you that don't think the loss is any big deal did not really deserve him then. You lost a great player and don't even recognize it. Hey it's your loss and I bet you jerry and wade will be giving him a call back if Keith is not in any legal trouble.

The Dolphins are obviously planning to sign quite a few guys who get cut from other teams. They must be looking at the situation like they need to get their current group down to 48 or 49 guys so they have room to sign guys who get cut. There's no reason to delay the inevitable. They played Davis a lot because they wanted to see what he could do. Obviously, he didn't show them what they were looking for.

[HaleyWare94]

Do you realize what you just said? Bill and Sporano already knew what Davis could do. Where have you been? They were his Coaches in Dallas for how many years? He also was playing in Dallas against depth that is much better than any player you have on your current roster. I seriously doubt that you have any players on that team that could out play Davis on special teams. Now I will admit that Davis was not the best in the secondary with the Cowboys but look who he was playing behind. Who do you guys got that is just so better than what Davis is? No something has happened here that you and I don't know about.

You wait and it will come out in a few days.

[wade phillips]

Thank you Dolphins, our special teams have been terrible without KD. He is a special teams monster if he didn't do anything off the field to cause this cut, he'll be back in dallas by Fri.

[Tony]

Yeah Davis was playing behind guys who consistently gave up long touchdown passes and he still couldn’t get on the field in Dallas. Evidently the depth wasn’t better in Dallas because he made their team 5 years in a row.

[Stefin]

Not so fast, Being A Parcells Guy, I think we better all take another look at that being a blanket statement. Let's watch the Beck-McCown who goes to Baltamore exodus. Prediction McCown goes for 3-4 pick conditional or we keep 4 QB's. Parcells must've traded horse's in another life. Can't you just feel another Draft Pick or 2nd Teir OL or nose tackel or one of those 265 pound linebackers/DE headed our way.

[Haleyware94]

Your attempt to try to take a shot at our team compared to your team is pathetic. You do not have anyone close to the talent level of Newman or Ken Hamlin. At least make sense when you try to burn a 13-3 team when your a fan of a 1-15 team. I was not going to even go there with you but since you brought it up you made it to easy. Yes we blew it last year and choked in the playoffs so I'll even take that away from you so you won't feel the need to throw that out there as well. I'll admit when my team screws up and we did. Your team however was a laughing stock and so are you and your attempt at taking a blow at a team that your know where close to in standards is a joke.

Yeah your team became the Miami Cowboys and are hoping that 2 of our very own Coaches and how many ex-players from the Cowboys are going to right your ship.Your team is full of our scraps. Akin is serviceable and a good player and did a decent job for us but we simply have better and he was expandable and will make your team better and surely is an upgrade for you. You know have Fasano who will probably turn out OK for you now that he has no one really to lose his job to. It's really funny that you take a pathetic shot at a much better team than yours who is the one team that sent any help your way to try to get you back to some form of respectability.

Once again this is not to all Dolphins fans because half my Family are big time Dolphin fans because we grew up in Miami and lived there for over 35 years. Some of you have common sense. It's the ones like the poster I am responding to that have not a clue. Like I said for those type of fans you really didn't deserve Davis because you don't even realize what you just lost. Then again I understand what it must be like for you since you haven't seen any real talent in a long time. Your last 2 future hall of famers are now playing in our division and Hopefully Zach Thomas can finally get a ring...he sure has a better shot at it then he ever did wasting away in Miami. Good luck trying to get anywhere close to 500 this year. Hey you now have competition this year. Maybe Atlanta can save you this time around from being the actually worst team in the NFL.

[Bootris]

Not sure what to think of this one. Obviously someone who has been shot twice in their life randomly has a good chance of winning the lottery. Some people say he was playing well some say he was not. Lets see what comes out in the media, the Trifecta seem to like to help their friends who are cut make it to another team. Maybe Davis just underperformed; all Corporations will keep someone in the travel plans until the Turk comes to roost. I worked for a big corporation and a fellow employee was busted in a kickback scheme and was on a two week cruise, his brother worked there and the VP of Human Resources (Aka the Turk) was paged on the intercom. The employee in question then had his e-mail account wiped out on the corporate computer server. His brother called HR and asked if his brother was fired, they said no and the e-mail account was reinstated. The brother came back from his cruise and was fired the first day back and his e-mail account removed again. The other brother was fired a month later.
Anyway my point is I am not sure the travel plans for Davis were not a similar situation.
That said we have to take into account that Davis sounds like a thug and may have had some thug type encounter the Trifecta does not want to divulge due to legal or other reasons. If he was not arrested, the Police would not bring anything up in fear of being charged with false arrest or slander. Strange situation, more information may be forthcoming, I would not be surprised if Mando knows the scoop but can’t tell us without getting sanctioned by the Tuna again.

[klndry]

Shot twice, once while picking up his friend at a strip club? Sounds like a gangsta to me. If he isn't then he still hangs out with them. If not I believe that this regime is picking the best team and players possible. They want to win now. Mistakes will be made but overall I am happy with every decision.

[Muck]

I forgot how good Dallas' safeties are. I thought all teams had 2-down safeties like Roy Williams. It's not like they have to replace him with a cornerback on passing downs. Oh yeah, Stephen Jones said they're going to do just that.

We're not near Dallas' talent level yet, and we certainly don't have their pass rush to help the secondary. But we've got a corner (Will Allen) that was good enough to make Dr. Z's 2007 All-Pro first team alongside Terrence Newman...on a 1-15 team that was 24th in sacks. And we have a safety (Yeremiah Bell) who was on the verge of a Pro Bowl before tearing an Achilles. Yeah, that means little. But the accusation was that we don't have anyone near a certain talent level. I would argue we have two, possibly three back there. We'll see how the season goes under Todd Bowles.

Also, I wonder if Lehan's return had anything to do with the release. Lehan's a gunner, while Davis was a fullback. But perhaps we found another fullback and/or wedge-buster (Grigsby?) and bumped a gunner? Who knows.

[Drew DeArmond]

Keith "50 Cent" Davis was a fan favorite in Dallas for the way he played special teams with a wreckless abandon...hes was a good guy to have on our team and I believe he learned from his past. Parcells cut him when he was shot the first time at the strip club and then didnt bring him back for another year. And he was shot because 4 men tried to pull his girl friend into a car and he fought with all 4 then shot him in the elbow and thigh. Not saying he should have been at the club but it happend and I believed he learned from that. The second time he was shot supposedly randomly as he was driving down the interstate.

I really hope the Cowboys bring him back, he brought a lot of excitement and leadership to our special teams and we have felt his loss so far this preseason.

[DaveinOhio]

I see it as a way to let a former Cowboy find another team before the market it filled with people.

[Mr. Bungle]

Oh my god, can we all pipe down over a special teams player. Davis can't cover anyone in the secondary. He's only a special teams player. I love how fans fall in love with bottom of the roster players yet bash guys who were actually drafted high. There has to be some sort of psychological explanation.

[Marc]

Keith who? who cares? If I had to question any moves it would be Zach. He was RELEASED. You can't tell me we couldn't have gotten a pick for him...Either way he (Keith) was (obviously) irrelevant

[option coach]

In the last five years the Dallas Cowboys have won exactly as many playoff games as the Dolphins have. ZERO!

[Mr. Bungle]

Marc, they released Zach so he could choose his own team. He only had one year left on his contract and it was hefty. He was heading into his 13th season. It was a mercy release.

[Mr. Bungle]

Marc, they released Zach so he could choose his own team. He only had one year left on his contract and it was hefty. He was heading into his 13th season. It was a mercy release.

[dwinkinale]

Hey Mando. I found this link earlier today about Coach Sporano being miked up for a practice. So far I've heard nothing but good things about Sporano, but this kind of opened my eyes that we really don't know much about this guy at all. Can you tell me if he really is this much of a jerk?
Here's the link:
http://www.faniq.com/blog/Video-Tony-Sparano-Miked-Up-At-Dolphins-Camp-Is-Sort-Of-A-Jerk-Blog-11379

[Mr. Bungle]

Football coaches are usually jerks. Similar to drill sergeants. It's all about getting the job done. Tough love.

[HaleyWare94]

Oh man what a GREAT comeback with the ZERO playoff wins. You sure told our team Option Coach. I guess that means our 2 teams are pretty even then right. I swear some of you (Not all of you) are just better off quitting while your a head. LOL

Anyways Muck I agree with you that I think Jason Allen is going to be really good for you guys. That was a nice pick up. Cooker seems to have promise as well. Oh the subject of Roy Williams. You will get no argument from this Cowboys fan that in the last 3-4 years Roy has not played well at all IMO. They are saying right now that he has Finally picked his play back up. I hope they are right because if he does not get back to the player he once was this year i think we need to move on and explore other avenues.

[alex kessler]

I'm very scared that the Pats will pick up Davis, and will debrief him to learn our special teams and defensive playbooks. This move will boomerang on the Dolphins, and will be written about for years as we analyze the failure of the Parcells' era. Sad.

[Mr. Bungle]

Roy Williams can't cover. That's his problem and every team knows it.

[Mr. Bungle]

alex, you're not serious are you?

[Sonic]

I think this is the longest list of comments to a Mando column without anyone saying it sucked and that he should be fired. Could this be his best column ever???

[y-not]

I have to admit I have not read any posts here so I may be repeating someone.

It seems clear the MO of the trio is if you don't fit their needs they let you go asap. Probably fair to the player (Zach Thomas) and it lets them focus on guys who might make the team. I love the approach and hope they continue with it.

Beat the STINKING jets!

[moma kessler]

i agree w/ alex; this move is guaranteed to bite us on the ass, bigtime. first major foulup by tuna and co.

[Craig]

Is this a political campaign or sports because everyone is flip flopping around here. Everyone praised Tuna for bringing in guys with experience, who play his way, (leadership guys). That is important but it is more important to have talent on the field that will produce. When Sparano and the rest of the coaches realized he is not better then any safety currently on the team, they had to cut him. Should they keep a guy who's only role was going to be special teams or keep the guys who can play defense and contribute on special teams as well. Davis was not young and his upside is not there. For a team looking to rebuild, you either have to be a veteran who can contribute and teach (Jason Ferguson) or a young guy with a lot of potential. It does not take a genius too see what the Dolphins are doing.

[daryl in Charlotte]

Alex, dude! Give me some of that you on. You trippin!