The San Francisco 49ers right tackle competition has managed to fly under-the-radar through the first week and a half of training camp. Trent Brown has consistently handled first team work. Erik Pears has primarily been the backup left tackle. And returning lineman Anthony Davis started camp at right tackle with the third team, but has moved up to the second team.
Comments out of camp have been very positive about Davis’s attitude and performance. There were numerous questions about what to expect given his decision to retire for a year. However, it appears he is answering those questions fairly quickly. Daniel Kilgore talked about how much Davis’s approach to the game has improved. He said that previously Davis did not always have that attitude of trying to get better every day. Kilgore admitted wondering what to expect when Davis returned, but has been excited about the changes.
Davis met with the media briefly on Wednesday following the open practice at Kezar Stadium. You can watch some video of it here, and Cam Inman and Chris Biderman have some additional quotations.
Davis mentioned that this was his first time playing on a third string unit. He said that his coach always said “the cream always rises to the top.” Confidence has seemingly never been a problem for Davis, and thinks the situation will work out fine.
He also went into some detail about how he was working to get better. He said he does not want to just by on talent and athleticism, but actually get the most out of his talent.
"It's hard work, it’s hard work to get back to playing better than I was when I left. It takes a lot of attention to detail, just getting after it, thinking about it all the time, cutting out distractions, and pretty much start from the ground up. But it's building pretty fast."
This follows what Kilgore previously mentioned about wanting to improve more now than when he was previously with the team. Whether it results in Davis ending up in the starting lineup at some point, it’s good to see the change to how he approaches the game.