Pat McAfee’s somber tribute to dead ex-teammate Vontae Davis: ‘Reach out to your people’
Pat McAfee mourned the death of former Colts teammate Vontae Davis, who died at the age of 35 after he was found unresponsive at a relative’s home in Florida on Monday, according to WSVN 7.
During Monday’s episode of “The Pat McAfee Show,” the former punter, who played with Davis for five seasons in Indianapolis from 2012-16, said it’s a “very tough” time — and encouraged others to reach out and check on their friends.
“Vontae was an incredibly cool dude, good guy, nice guy, upbeat guy, energetic guy,” McAfee said. ” I think what we’ll remember him for is being an incredibly cool teammate in that locker room and being a guy that all of us enjoyed being around on a daily basis.
“… Literally, if you knew him you loved him and you enjoyed the hell out of him. And today’s been tough, it’s going to be tough, but it’s a nice perspective-putter to remind everybody to reach out to your people… I haven’t talked to him in months and obviously I’m never going to get to do it again.
“So reach out to your people, tell them you appreciate them, tell them you like them, tell them they’re not alone… Rest in Peace Vontae, ya done good pal… Had no clue this was coming, nobody did.”
Darius Butler — a former safety and cornerback, who was also teammates with Davis and McAfee on the Colts — became emotional while appearing on the show.
“It’s f–ked up,” Butler said. “Thirty-five years old, birthday around the corner… He kind of lived his life to the beat of his own drum and it’s tough when you transition out [of the NFL] you’ve got to deal with life. You go so long living the dream… then when you go into real life… it’s tough.”
McAfee explained that he and Butler knew of Davis’ death earlier that day, but didn’t want to be the ones to break the news publicly.
“We didn’t want to be the ones, we didn’t think it was right for us to be the people that kind of informed the world that one of our former teammates and friends had passed away,” McAfee said. “It just felt weird, so we’ve been just been trying to distract ourselves all show. It was a tough morning.”
Davis’ body was found at a home belonging to his grandmother, Adaline Davis, in Southwest Ranches, Fla. on Monday, according to Davie Police and the Broward County Medical Examiners Office, which responded to the scene.
No foul play is suspected, police told WSVN 7, adding that an investigation into Davis’ death is ongoing.
Colts owner Jim Irsay shared his condolences for Davis’ family.
“Extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Vontae Davis,” Irsay wrote in a post on X. “A great guy, teammate, player. My prayers to Vontae’s family.”
Davis was the brother of Super Bowl champion tight end Vernon Davis.
Chester Frazier, who coached Davis, at Illinois, wrote in a post on X, “#illinination we lost a great today!!! RIP TO @vontaedavis man nothing but good memories of that dude in school!!! Praying for the Davis family!!”
A first-round pick, 25th overall, by the Dolphins in the 2009 NFL Draft, Davis spent the first three seasons of his career with Miami before being traded to the Colts ahead of the 2012 NFL season.
Davis signed a one-year deal with the Bills in February 2018 and famously retired in the middle of a game that September.
