Sean Davis ‘Not Worried’ About Contact Extension; Is Worried About Improving at Free Safety
PITTSBURGH — Sean Davis made his first appearance at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Tuesday, during the Steelers’ OTA No. 7.
He’s been one of the few starters that haven’t been regular attendees this spring, as the Steelers are attempting to move on from a 9-6-1 season that saw the miss the postseason for the first time since 2013.
But Davis is also one of the few Steelers starters that is entering the final year of his contract, something that he discussed at length after practice. Sort of. Davis was more than willing to discuss the subject, but didn’t have much in the way of answers when it comes to whether or not he expects to have a contract extension before this fall.
“I’m not too much involved in that stuff,” Davis admitted.
He added, that to his knowledge, the Steelers have not reached out to his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. He also doesn’t seem particularly concerned about whether or not that happens.
“I don’t know. I’m not to worried about it yet. I don’t really care, man. I love being here. I love to play here. But I’m just worried about getting more picks and winning games.”
Of course, it’s probably not a big concern for him, either way, because it seems like a pretty good time to be a free agent at the safety position in the NFL.
Landon Collins just signed a six-year, $84 million contract with the Washington Redskins. Tyrann Mathieu inked a three-year, $42 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. Earl Thomas got $55 million over four years to sing with the Baltimore Ravens.
“I think the safety market went up this year,” Davis said. “That just puts a little more pressure on me to get the job done.”
Of course, Davis hasn’t always been a safety. He was drafted out of Maryland in 2016 as a cornerback. He made six starts, but mostly as a nickel back before making the shift to strong safety for 2017 and then free safety in 2018.
That makes this practice time important to him, even though he missed the first two weeks of OTAs.
“Last year, I don’t want to say I was winging it, but I was just learning by mistakes,” Davis said. “Just to have another year under my belt and have tape to watch. … I feel like this year, I can put it all together.”
Davis spent an extended amount of time after practice talking with starting strong safety Terrell Edmunds. After missing the first portion of practice, he wanted to make sure he was on the same page with his defensive backfield mate.
“It’s been a while since we played together,” Davis said. “It was Week 16 since I’ve been out there with him. Just chopping it up, talking about the year, talking about practice today and just trying to get better.”
Davis had just one interception last season on a defense that struggled to turn the ball over as a whole. Getting better will have to be part of the storyline if he’s going to able to cash in on those big-time deals for free agent safeties, here or elsewhere.
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