Nate Davis isn’t lacking confidence.
“When my mind is right and body is good,” Davis said, . “I know I’m a special player.”
Davis will get a chance to prove that to the Chicago Bears and their fans soon. With Bears starters set to play in Saturday’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Davis is on the cusp of truly embarking on his second season with Chicago’s football team. And while things have gotten off on the wrong foot for a second consecutive summer, Davis can still prove that he is as good as he believes he is — but the only way to do that is to get on the field. To this point, Davis has struggled in that regard.
An injury has kept Davis from being a full participant in practice. Luck hasn’t been on his side either. Because even when things were looking like they were getting better for Davis about eight days ago, a setback kept him from continuing his ramp-up and appearing in the team’s first preseason game. Go figure. It has been tough to find a silver lining in the Nate Davis situation. However, there is a sliver of hope that is starting to creep in.
Nate Davis can prove why the Bears believe in him
Despite his inability to get (and in some cases, stay) on the field, the Chicago Bears continue to display a certain level of trust in Nate Davis. And to an extent, I get it. Beyond the fact that the Bears are paying him handsomely, Davis had a track record of being a quality NFL offensive lineman. Before the 2023 offseason, Davis was one of four offensive linemen who checked in among ESPN’s top 25 free agents of his class. This is what we wrote about him then:
Davis sneaks into back end of the top 25 as a guard who excels in run and pass blocking. He h🐟as youth on his side, too. Davis will start the 2023 season at age 26. The combination of age, positional need, floor, and ceiling should make Davis an intriguing target the Bears should have eyes on this offseason. Of course, the Titans might want to keep him, too. But they have needs elsewhere.
Re-reading the paragraph above reminds me of why the Nate Davis arc has been so frustrating. Davis checked the boxes of the type of free agent that Bears GM Ryan Poles tends to target. This was a player who was entering his prime, showcased skills as a blocker in pass protection and clearing space in the run game, and whose signing wasn’t going to prohibit the team from making future moves. Unfortunately, we’ve not gotten to see Davis at his best. Neither have the Bears. But they clearly believe that a healthy Davis can provide a little extra something to the trenches. I guess they’re betting on the track record.
Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus announced on Thursday that his starters would play in Saturday’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Presumably, Nate Davis — who has been put on notice by his head coach — will be part of that group. I’m not holding my breath for this, but I’m holding out a small bit of hope that Davis’ comeback story has its humble beginnings in a preseason game between the Bears and Bengals. If not, we’ll continue to look toward the team’s depth for answers. Ideally, it won’t come to that.
In the end, it sounds like Nate Davis is truly l🍒ooking forward to showing Bears fans what kind of player he is and can be moving forward. At this stage of the game, the only way he can win back a fanbase that is understandably frustrated with him is by playing (and playing well).
For more from Nate Davis, you can watch his press conference (along with ones from Cole Kmet and Kevin Byard) in the ไvideo below:
