Chicago Bears: Knile Davis hurt more than help in preseason debut

Knile Davis entered the Chicago Bears third preseason game with a chance to make the 53-man roster. He left the game with a lower chance than he entered

When the Chicago Bears signed Knile Davis I speculated that he had an outside shot at making the 53-man roster. Benny Cunningham is banged up and Taquan Mizzell and Ryan Nall have not made any impacts. Add in that Knile Davis has special teams value and is a more experienced pass blocker and there was some smoke for him to make the roster over those two young backs.

Knile Davis did not see the field for any offensive snaps on Saturday. That is likely because he was signed so fresh, and had less than a week to get any information on the playbook.

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Still, while he did not hurt his stock on offense, his special teams play has to have him in the coaches dog house heading into their fourth preseason game.

Knile Davis started as the kick return man for the Chicago Bears. If he could either not bring any bad attention to himself or burst a long run, he would help his chances tremendously. Davis had three returns on Saturday, two of which were bonehead moves.

Davis caught those two returns in the end zone. Looking to make a spark and get his name out there, Davis decided to return them. On one effort he did get to the 22-yard line. On another, Davis got to about the 16. Had he taken his knee in the end zone, those drives would have started at the 25. He cost the team 12 yards over two returns in this regard.

Davis took another one out of the end zone and did get passed the 25. However, it was called back due to a hold. He fielded one kick at about the two-yard line but failed to get to the 25. He also caught a kick in the end zone and took a knee.

Maybe Matt Nagy told him to see what he could do and try to make some noise with the ball in his hands. As a player signed deep into summer, he likely knew his only chance of sticking around longer was providing magic. He probably knew that taking three knees would not do him very well.

However, he likely would have been in better roster standing now had he taken those knees. Knile Davis was already on the outside looking in with a limited chance to make the team. He essentially sealed off every opportunity he had to make the roster with those poor returns on Saturday. It will be interesting to see who returns kicks in the Chicago Bears dress rehearsal game next Saturday.

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