By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist

John Davis – Signed by the Bills in 1989

Was it skill or luck? Either way, the Bills were happy to add John Davis to their roster just before their unparalleled run of success in the early 1990s.

Davis was an 11th-round pick of the Oilers in 1987. He spent two seasons in Houston playing as a reserve in several spots on the offensive lines as well as on special teams. Buffalo signed him as a Plan B free agent.

It took a year, but Davis slid into the starting lineup in 1990. The offensive line only allowed 27 sacks that season, and Davis proved to be a good-sized contributor. He remained a starter for the most part through 1994. Then Davis was exposed to the expansion draft in 1995. When he wasn’t taken, he was released. Football is often more of a business than a game, but Davis probably deserved a better exit. He didn’t play in the NFL again.

Here he takes a look at his college days:

(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *