In re-signing Tyler Davis this past week, the Green Bay Packers special teams unit got its “right hand” back, as Rich Bisaccia put it last summer when describing Davis’ impact.
Unfortunately, Davis’ 2023 season was cut very short after he suffered an ACL injury in the Packers’ preseason matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals.
On offense, the plan was always to have Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft grow and develop through experience and being thrown into the fire to a degree. But not having Davis took away an experienced blocking presence for Matt LaFleur to potentially lean on at times.
However, Davis was always going to make the biggest impact on special teams, where he filled a variety of roles and did so at a high level.
“I feel like to some degree we lost our right hand, you know?” special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia said following Davis’ injury. “He was an exceptional special-teams player, someone that you could count on in every critical situation, count on to play multiple positions. He’s a big-bodied guy who can really run, was a double-digit tackler a year ago.”
In Bisaccia’s first offseason with the team in 2022, before he even had the opportunity to see everyone on the field, up close, and in pads, Bisaccia, like all new coaches do, watched the film from the previous season to get an idea of what he was working with, and Davis was someone who he mentioned really standing out on the film.
In 2022, Davis led the Packers in special teams snaps and played across five different phases. The only unit he didn’t contribute to was the field goal-blocking team. Otherwise, Davis was on the field. Davis also finished third in tackles on the team that year as well.
“I really haven’t gotten very comfortable with not having Tyler Davis to this point,” added Bisaccia last August, “because of who he is and how much he puts into it and how important it is to him and how he feels about the Green Bay Packers and being a part of this. So, losing him is a big blow to our unit, I think it’s a blow to our team.”
Last season was another disappointing year for the Packers’ special teams unit. Instead of making a jump in Bisaccia’s second season, they seemed to regress and finished 29th in Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings.
Bringing Davis back is a low-risk move for the Packers, but it is one that could make an impact. From a salary cap standpoint, Davis only accounts for $1.07 million against the cap if on the team, but if the Packers choose to release him, there are no salary cap ramifications.
On the flip side, if Davis makes the Packers final roster, they have a core special teams contributor who can impact that phase of the game in a variety of ways.
During training camp and the preseason, Davis will also elevate the competition on the tight end depth chart behind Musgrave and Kraft, as he’s someone who is able to compete with Ben Sims for that blocking-specific role within the offense. I also could see the Packers experimenting with Davis in the H-back role, with Josiah Deguara potentially signing elsewhere as a free agent.
One would think that Davis is excited to be back in Green Bay and have the opportunity to contribute to a team with high expectations. I also think it’s a safe bet to say that Rich Bisaccia is pretty excited as well.
