Bills CB Vontae Davis "retires", leaves Bills game after first half

In a bizarre situation on Sunday, Bills CB Vontae Davis went into the locker room at the half of the Chargers and Bills game and never came back out.

I do not see CB Vontae Davis on the sidelines. I also just checked with the #Bills, and there is no injury to speak of with Davis to their knowledge.

— Joe Buscaglia (@JoeBuscaglia) September 16, 2018

After the game, coach Sean McDermott was asked about Davis and said, "he had pulled himself out of the game. He communicated to us that he was done."

In the locker room, some of Davis' teammates were disappointed by this while others said they weren't going to say much until they knew the personal details.

Well those details were released at around 6:45 p.m. when Davis released a statement on Twitter.

According to the statement on the NFL twitter account, Davis said:

Official statement from CB @vontaedavis. pic.twitter.com/8WXszhnrUo

— NFL (@NFL) September 16, 2018

"This isn't how I pictured retiring from the NFL.

But in my 10th NFL season, I have been doing what my body has been programmed to do: get ready to play on game day. I've endured multiple surgeries and played through many different injuries throughout my career and over the last few weeks, this was the latest physical challenge.

But today on the field, reality hit me fast and hard: I shouldn't be out there anymore.

I meant no disrespect to my teammates and coaches. But hold myself to a standard. Mentally, I always expect myself to play at a high level. But physically I know today that isn't possible, and I hand an honest moment with myself. While I was on the field, I just didn't feel right, and I told the coaches,I'm not feeling like myself.'

I also wondered: Do I want to keep sacrificing?

And truthfully, I do not because the season is long, and it's more important for me and my family to walk away healthy than to willfully embrace the warriors mentality and limp away too late.

This was an overwhelming decision but I'm at peace with myself and my family. I choose to be grateful to God for allowing me to play the game that I have loved as a boy until I turned 30 years old. I choose to be grateful to God for being a part of the NFL and making lifelong friends over the last decade. There were roadblocks and pitfalls along the way, but I am grateful to God for all of it because he doesn't promise any of us an easy journey.

Lastly, I am grateful to Gof for what he has in store for me ahead in this next chapter of my life."

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