San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis applied for reinstatement on Monday after taking a year off in 2015. One would think a team with offensive line struggles would be thrilled to have a former first-round pick back, but the Niners reportedly have concerns about Davis.
According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, the 49ers would “love” to have Davis return to his pre-retirement form but are “wary” about him being fully committed.
“When a player quits, generally, that means they’re gone for good,” Cole said. “It’s very difficult for players to come back from retirement at that point in time. More importantly, teams do not trust that players are going to be fully committed to wanting to stay in the game.”
Cole added that Chip Kelly and the San Francisco coaching staff will be “extremely careful” with Davis going forward and challenge him quite a bit to earn back a starting spot.
Davis announced his retirement in 2014 after appearing in just seven games that season, but he made it clear that his intention was to return. While a player retiring young is not unheard of as we learn more about the long-term health effects of playing football (here’s a recent example), you have to wonder how Davis’ teammates will receive him. The 49ers had an incredibly rough season last year, and they could have used him badly.
