FanPost

The "hold out"

Vernon Davis held out this summer. Sort of. In what can only be described as an another bizarre (and thankfully brief) episode in the mercurial tight ends illustrious career, Vernon skipped a mandatory mini camp. During which time he went on a whirl wind tour of media outlets, wrote a column for Peter King's widely read blog, and made almost daily (and frequently contradictory) reports on his goals.

Vernon is a fascinating character. He's an avid fan of curling; he owns an art gallery; he promotes mysterious super heros on his twitter feed; he can't "remember" what he said about his hold out two weeks ago. He's passionate. Following his most famous exploit he wept openly more like an Olympic gymnast than an NFL tight end. We know he can be a bit unpredictable and this "hold out" may remind us of his selfish tendencies as a rookie phenom.

But as I read the coverage of the return of our prodigal son I realized something. While Vernon waffled on the reasons behind his absence (and supposed continued absence) from team activities he did tell us a few self consistent things. He's building his brand. Consider the reception several of our other famous pro bowl players enjoyed this week. Sure Patrick Willis and Justin Smith answered questions for the media but the scene didn't approach what is described as a scrum. Their quotes weren't featured on Espn's front page. Their media penetration could be described as local. Vernon is their equal on the field but off the field he's far exceeded their national exposure this summer.

You can call Vernon's hold out many thing but I haven't heard it described as a success. And yet it was. During a period of the year when NFL players are typically only in the news for misbehavior Vernon managed to get his face on TV and his words in print nation wide. That's savvy brand building. Sure he cost himself several thousand dollars in fines but I could believe that he substantially increased the likelihood that his retirement will be more like Michael Strahan's than Jeremy Shockey's. Vernon told us he wanted to "build his brand", he told us that he wasn't that concerned about getting a new deal. He basically told us what he was doing and that's exactly what he did.

He said a bunch of other stuff too but that's Vernon for you.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.