The San Francisco 49ers had locker room availability Thursday afternoon, and tight end Vernon Davis was among those speaking to the media. His presence came due to recent reports of discord in the locker room.
On Tuesday, socalisteph mentioned that two players had gotten into an altercation in the locker room when one called out Colin Kaepernick, and the other defended him. Later that day, BASG reported Vernon Davis and Joe Staley were the principles, with Davis calling out Kap, and Staley defending Kap. Our own Jennifer Lee Chan suggested it was more than just a verbal altercation, and Matt Maiocco later reported that to be the case.
On Wednesday, Davis said he would make himself available to discuss it, and on Thursday he did. And in doing so, he seemingly denied it:
Vernon Davis said he can't recall getting into a fight, verbal or otherwise, with Joe Staley this season. #49ers
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) October 29, 2015
#49ers Vernon Davis disputes report he called out Kaepernick in team meeting last month: "That's not my role. I let coaches do that"
— Cam Inman (@CamInman) October 29, 2015
Vernon Davis: "I love Joe (Staley)."
— Taylor Price (@TaylorPrice) October 29, 2015
Eric Branch had a more specific quotation from Vernon in response to whether there was an altercation, and you can view more quotations in Cam Inman's article:
I don't recall that. I don't know where that's coming from
"Recall" and "recollection" is always a fun word to cover one's butt without fully denying something. I have quite a few friends that work in government jobs, and I often get asked to be a reference on their background check. Since I don't follow people around 24/7, I don't know everything about them. And so, when I get asked something that might prove truthful, but I'm not entirely sure, I go with, "Not to my recollection". Basically, just keep it safe.
Do I think Vernon is lying? In some ways yes, and in some ways no. It's up there with whether or not I think Jed York was lying he denied being involved in leaks related to Jim Harbaugh last year. I think in reality these kinds of situations involve maneuvering words to best suit their needs. It is certainly possible neither thing happened. I wasn't there, so I can't say with 100 percent certainty that either definitely did happen.
But enough nonsense has happened that I am not going to let someone blow smoke up my butt on this kind of thing. In reality, it's just exhausting enough that I am not inclined to care a whole lot. And considering how this season is going, does anybody actually think this situation is going to get better between now and Week 17?
I am a little bit fascinated by how ugly this dumpster fire can get, but I've long since moved past actually believing denials at this point.