JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gabe Davis was with the Bills for four seasons.
It's the only other team he's been with since he was drafted. It's no surprise that he can ball. He's got the talent and experience.
Knowing what he can provide for the Jaguars, he says it's important to hit the ground running when building a connection with his team.
“If you care about the guys you're playing with, if you know their families, know their kids, if you have a relationship with everybody like that, you build this bond, this tight-knit group that wants to win for each other and that's the first step,” Davis said.
Davis believes the first step in getting to know his team is learning about each other off the field.
“For me, for example, hosting a dinner once a week,” Davis said. “That's something that's simple and easy that you can do with your position or everybody in general to build that bond, build that connection.”
Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson said he saw trust on the field built throughout OTAs, and it started with leaders like Davis.
“They cheer for each other and it's not an ‘I need a football; I need every target’ mentality in that room at all. And that's a good thing,” Pederson said.
Davis enjoys life and loves to laugh and have fun.
“My biggest thing when we come to the meeting rooms is try to loosen everybody up,” Davis said. “These days are long and to be able to keep that positive energy in the room I feel like is big and that's what I bring.”
Even with OTAs and minicamp over, Davis still plans on getting as much time as he can with the team.
“Figuring out what they like to do outside of football, whether it's going golfing, going to dinner. Any type of hanging out they like to do,” Davis said.
Davis is confident that the closer the team gets, the harder it will be to stop them once the season starts.
“We got guys who can do it all,” Davis said. “We got guys who can fill spots that need to be filled. Whether it's BT going deep, me going deep or Kirk. Kirk's got some that he's caught 50-60 yards down the field that I've seen. We can do a little bit of everything.”
Davis also said he's happy just to be back in his home state, and the cherry on top will be having his family at all the home games.