San Diego Chargers Draft Busts - #3 Craig "Buster" Davis
by John Gennaro on Apr 14, 2011 9:25 AM PDT
in NFL Draft
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PrintYes, yes, I know. Very funny. "John loves Buster Davis! Now he has to write bad things about him!"
Here's why I have always stuck in Buster's corner, and it has very little to do with me playing favorites. Buster is really, really young. Buster had two years of NFL experience before the team drafted Larry English, who is the same age as Davis.
If he was getting injured a lot, you could point to the fact that he was still quite young and needed to grow into his body. There is, after all, a reason that the NFL does not let players into the NFL Draft without them being 3 years removed from high school. It's because to take the pounding of an NFL season you need a fully-developed body.
I was always looking at the reasons the Chargers drafted CBD (good hands, tough route runner, speed to burn, smart guy) and saying "once his body is fully-developed and he can stay healthy, he's going to be a valuable first-round pick." I still think it's rather silly to say "Larry English gets another year or two before we close the book on him" while also saying "Buster Davis will never amount to anything!" when they're the same age as each other, and I will still root for Buster to find that magical fountain of health either in San Diego or somewhere outside of the AFC West.
In CBD's rookie season, he missed only two games (games 7 and 8) and put up decent "slot WR" numbers: 20 catches, 188 yds, 1 TD. He also ran the ball 3 times for 9 yards. After this season it seemed fairly evident that he'd be taking Chris Chambers' starting WR spot soon. Then it all fell apart.
In his second season, Davis played in just four games. He finished the season with 4 catches for 59 yards.
In his third season, Davis playing in just one game. This has plenty to do with the Chargers plan, though. Although seemingly healthy all season, Davis was kept on the sidelines until a meaningless Week 17 game against the Washing Redskins. In that game he caught 6 passes for 52 yards and also ran the ball once for 4 yards. It was obvious that Davis had the talent, and the Chargers hoped an entire season away from the field would help him to be more consistent with his health.
In 2010, it appeared that the patience with CBD had paid off. Often playing through injury, Buster missed just one of the first seven games of the season. Seeing limited action, mostly reliving his role as a slot WR, Buster put up numbers a little better his rookie season: 21 catches, 259 yards and 1 TD. He was on pace for a breakout season when, as predicted by many, Davis went down with a season-ending injury after a half-season of play.
Is Buster talented? No doubt. Can he still turn his NFL career around? Absolutely. Unfortunately, it would appears the Chargers patience has been worn too thin. With a year left on his contract, there is lots of talk about the Chargers releasing CBD and letting him try his luck somewhere else. For being a first-round pick (30th overall), and for all the money the team has given him, they have gotten very little return on their investment.
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shhhhh
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 14, 2011 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions
funny thing
Buster was drafted at 30 and Reche Caldwell was drafted at 48 (approx 1/2 a round away), and no one thinks about Reche as a colossal bust, even though he was similarly unproductive. Part of it is the 1st round vs. 2nd round thing.
In my mind, the biggest problem with the Buster pick is that we really didn’t end up needing him at all… Our WR corps has been top flight without him. A 1st round pick bust should not have that unnoticable of an effect on their position group.
by Stephen (shaynes41) on Apr 14, 2011 10:25 AM PDT reply actions
Excellent point
I thought his numbers were better than they were. Looking back, they were very similar players.
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 14, 2011 12:54 PM PDT up reply actions
How bout that Tay Cody? He also kinda sucked.
by BORTZ on Apr 14, 2011 5:37 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
He was worth a 3rd round pick
a decent nickel CB for a while.
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 15, 2011 9:17 AM PDT up reply actions
He had one decent season. Thats it. One. Yep. Totally worth it.
Also, he was part of that terrible trade – give up the first pick in the draft for Tim Dwight, reche Caldwell, and Tay Cody.
Sure, LT turned out to be great; but the chargers just gave that pick away.
by BORTZ on Apr 15, 2011 10:09 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Super duper great? Whatever. You still don’t give up the first pick in the draft for nothing.
by BORTZ on Apr 15, 2011 6:37 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
hmmmm
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 15, 2011 3:27 PM PDT up reply actions
It's a good thing John cut off the fourth round or he'd have to write about Gartrell Johnson O.o
@orz_bftb
You bite your tongue!
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 14, 2011 12:54 PM PDT up reply actions
CBD
I’ve probably been one of CBD’s biggest detractors, and even I wish him the best and wish he could have done better.
This sequence of posts has helped me realize that these two guys are in very similar circumstances – Thank you John.
My big reason for hammering CBD more than I’ve hammered English is situational, and maybe that’s not right. Both English and CBD were getting the first round money. The difference was that English had Merriman and Philips in front of him. Both guys were getting paid well. So if rookie isn’t earning his wage, at least the guys pulling most of the reps are getting paid.
For CBD that really was not the case. Guys like Rent Jax, Naanee and Floyd were absolutely putting out and NOT getting paid. While Craig limps out of the trainer’s room with a bag full of money, "Vincent can you help me lift this bag into the bed of my pick up?"
It ain’t right! And maybe it isn’t CBD’s fault either.
"Rent Jax"
I like it.
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 14, 2011 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions
I would have preferred V Jax, but I’ll take Rent Jax over Ex Jax.
Hell it is his own dam fault.
When I was in Sales I used to tell my customers: Cheaper, Better, Faster pick two but you can’t have all three. Rent Jax made the classic mistake of asking for all three and ended up with one. He really needs new representation, this current batch aint too smart.
by Trendsearcher on Apr 15, 2011 8:26 AM PDT up reply actions
You can't fault a guy for getting paid.
Especially if the only thing holding him back is his body. We’re not talking about JaMarcus, I think Buster sincerely wants to contribute and it not reporting to camp with a gut, bad attitude and a cup of purple drank.
Unfortunately, its football, and how much punishment your body can withstand is part of the equation.
by ElectricTerp on Apr 14, 2011 2:48 PM PDT up reply actions
Uhmm maybe you can't, but I can
The team pays the big bucks (bucks it gets directly and indirectly from me) to players that it thinks will make big time contributions. Contracts are about “this for that” not “this for nothing.” The team could have used those bucks to get an actual contributor.
by Trendsearcher on Apr 15, 2011 8:30 AM PDT up reply actions
Rookie contracts are ALL about "this for nothing."
As my first post states, Buster’s not TRYING to lay an egg and the only thing that contract obligates him to do is do his best to contribute. The team obviously thought enough to draft him and thought he would would make big time contributions.
Look, he clearly hasn’t lived up to expectations. But if you’re saying the team could have done better by spending money to get an actual contributor I don’t know what you mean. They had a first round pick and they picked…that’s not paying someone who sucks (ala Albert Haynesworth) that’s just either a talent evaluation fail, or bad luck. When he plays, he looks decent. Good even, so I think that bad luck it is.
I don’t know if a team is better off not using the draft and putting that money to an actual contributor. Although I imagine that the Redskins or Raiders may have already tried to explore that strategy.
by ElectricTerp on Apr 15, 2011 1:50 PM PDT up reply actions
Once he laid the first egg, I think the team could have done somethings
Call him into the office and ask him if he is interested in renegociating. You’re right on all these contracts there is a ton of guess work up front. And sure it is CBD’s right to push for the contract to remain unchanged…. And then the team can CUT HIM.
Yeah season one was too soon, but you’d find out where Craig’s mind is at on this upside down contract situation by asking. Season two… Same problem – same answer from Craig, I believe you have to really start thinking hard about cutting him. Season three? Forget about it!
by Trendsearcher on Apr 15, 2011 3:02 PM PDT up reply actions
I think the most frustrating thing about Buster is the fact that you can tell he’s talented, you can tell he’s a good reciever and you can tell that he was a good pick at his spot.
But it’s all fairly useless because the man just can’t stay healthy.
I love my team of historically talented underachievers.
I know how hard this post was for you, John
and it’s clear you are still in Buster’s corner, which isn’t a bad thing. That way you can come back in a few seasons when(if) Buster is healthy and putting up solid numbers for whatever team he ends up with post-Chargers.
However, the bottom line for a first round draft pick (in my mind) is that they need to do one of the following two things (or both):
1. Contribute immediately, at least as a role player in their rookie season
2. Have so much potential that it may take a year or two to realize that potential but once they do they become one of the elite players at their position.
When evaluating a potential draft pick, you need to look at the above criteria before pulling the trigger. If you look at the first one and see that they player can immediately come into your team and be a starter or play a significant role, you can feel confident taking that player in the first round. Conversely, if you don’t think that player can contribute immediately, you really need to think hard about that player and look at more intangibles to see if that player has the work ethic (or if you have the coaching staff) to realize that player’s potential.
Wow, I have more to say on this topic than I thought…maybe a separate post is in order. To be continued…
by jkvandal on Apr 14, 2011 1:10 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
Buster was the 30th pick, practically a 2nd rounder. Does that change anything for you?
by Stephen (shaynes41) on Apr 14, 2011 2:20 PM PDT up reply actions
Not really.
I mean, I have hindsight on my side, but I feel like other teams have had success picking late in the first round for several years in a row. You got me thinking so let’s see, first example that comes to mind:
In 2006 through 2008, Indy had the 30th, 32nd, and 29th picks in the first round. They landed Addai in 2006, Gonzalez in 2007, and traded away their 1st rounder in 2008 to land Tony Ugoh in the 2nd round in 2007.
Ugoh is no longer on their roster, but in 3 seasons with Indy he played in 37 games and started 27 games.
Gonzalez is still there, and after 4 seasons has played in 32 games and started 12 games.
Addai has had some injury issues of late, but after 5 seasons has played in 66 games and started 49.
Those average out to be 11.2 games played per season and 7.3 starts per season while picking at the end of the first round. I think that shows you can still get valuable contributors at the end of the first round, although those numbers were lower than I had anticipated.
Now, look at Buster’s numbers in comparison:
4 seasons, 26 games played, 2 games started. This averages to 6.5 games played per season and .5 starts per season.
That’s why I have a hard time writing it off as “practically a 2nd rounder.” The bottomline is that although it may be near the end of the first round, you still got to pick from the top 30 available players in the NFL draft, so you know there is talent there. That was a fun little exercise, I am sure there are better examples of teams having success at the end of the first round too, that was just the first team that came to mind.
It’s also very easy for me to sit here and second guess a pick made years ago with the info that I have now, which is why I didn’t use the argument of some of the names that came after Buster’s that year (Sidney Rice, Lamarr Woodley, David Harris, Steve Smith (NYG)). Not only that fact, but we traded back up in the second to get Weddle and could have kept all those picks we traded away to get him if we had just picked him at 30 in the first place…but that’s hindsight being 20/20 so I’m not going to say that, or did I already? Oops. Haha.
It's interesting that...
We don’t give Davis a fourth year to prove himself and are worried sick that English will be a bust. I count myself among them. Despite this, I wonder if the Chargers should show more patience given that it took Brees four years (as opposed to the planned three) to become an NFL quarterback. You have to admit his first three years were awful.
Given that the Chargers are among the bottom 10 teams in payroll, I think we can afford to show some patience. I would rather give a roster spot to English than Applewhite or Tucker since those guys will probably not amount to much.
by The Gorn on Apr 14, 2011 2:03 PM PDT reply actions 3 recs
Rec
An autumn Sunday,
Perched in front of the big screen,
Beer in white knuckles.
by Neoplatonist Bolthead on Apr 14, 2011 2:31 PM PDT up reply actions
I was looking for a post like this
before making a similar one myself. Unless he is absolutely wasting a roster spot, and has no chance of contributing better than a 5th receiver, it seems like the Chargers would have nothing to lose by letting him play out his rookie contract. I don’t have his contract numbers in front of me, but the up-front money is sunk, and his 2011 salary cannot be too exorbitant (could be wrong).
CBD is surely going to go all out to showcase his talents to the League during the last year of his rookie deal. If he can’t make it through a season this year, he never will.
What do you think about the corrosive influence of this situation in the locker room?
the Chargers would have nothing to lose by letting him play out his rookie contract
Frankly I don’t think Norv and Charlie Jointer get enough credit for managing a potentially explosive situation over these last few years. You got TWO solid WR’s both 6’4"+ (most teams would kill for one big WR) being under paid, not for one or two years, but for several years. Then you’ve got the Franchise Fiasco with Rent Jax. All the while there’s CBD cashing those checks and taking a big amount of money that should go to the real players. AND you’ve got this Craig guy with a falsetto voice showing up to position meetings in shirts with a big stupid ass polo players on ‘em.
Ya know as I think about it… I’m really surprised that Patrick Crayton did not stomp that guy after his first week on the team.
by Trendsearcher on Apr 15, 2011 8:42 AM PDT up reply actions
$840k base salary
plus incentives, obviously.
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
2011 Padres Record-When-I'm-There: 2-3
by John Gennaro on Apr 15, 2011 9:18 AM PDT up reply actions
Buster is a bust so far....
and I have yet to see him play as a “talented” receiver at all. He’s been less productive than Legedu, and he doesn’t seem to be a good fit at WR. Maybe he should be moved to KR, at least that way we’d see what he can do with the ball in his hands and blockers ahead…
Dielman on Rivers: "I've tried to get him to say s--- or f--- and all he'll ever do is say, 'Golly gee, I can't do that."
Next article: Scouting Greg Manusky, coming soon.
by Superduperboltman on Apr 14, 2011 2:35 PM PDT reply actions
Nobody puts Buster in the corner.
Is there an athlete that is really just completely injury prone but has fought off the bug and become a good consistent player in ANY sport? That’s not rhetorical, I really don’t know, I have the memory of a goldfish.
Watch Brian's Song some time
Its an old movie, but yes there have been players that have come back from injuries to have success. It is rare though. Rocky Bleier had a really great story too.
by Trendsearcher on Apr 14, 2011 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions
I was cruising the nets last night
And realized that Grant Hill has sort of had a renaissance of sorts in PHX. I think he may qualify too. It’s that magical Phoenix training staff….
by ElectricTerp on Apr 15, 2011 7:14 AM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, I don’t think Brian piccolo or gayle Sayers had log careers. Pretty sure one died and the other retired due to the injury bug.
by BORTZ on Apr 15, 2011 11:45 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
*long.
Certainly didn’t have log careers.
by BORTZ on Apr 15, 2011 11:46 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Crazy he is only 25
Might be worth keeping him on the roster until final cuts, try and get a ham sandwich for him
Winning
I don't think its just a matter of him being healthy
even when healthy he has had a hard time earning playing time. Maybe the Chargers just don’t think he is as good as other options at WR.
Granted
But they have Jax and they have Floyd. Top two spots are pretty strong, I’d say. I think if he was 100% he’d be doing more and it takes time to really “earn” a spot. I thought he did well in the slot last year when he played.
by ElectricTerp on Apr 15, 2011 1:54 PM PDT up reply actions
There has been some playing time available
Floyd while very talented has had his own injury issues, Jax just missed most of the season. There have been receptions and playing time out there to be grabbed up, but due to Buster’s injuries and, in my opinion, lack of talent he just hasn’t been the one to grab it.
by JeromeB on Apr 16, 2011 10:22 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
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