Former 49er Vernon Davis opens up about life after NFL, losing his brother

Retired NFL superstar Vernon Davis is opening up about his childhood, life after football and the tragic loss of his brother, Vontae Davis.
In his new memoir, “Playing Ball: Life Lessons From My Journey to the Super Bowl and Beyond,” Davis writes about his childhood growing up in Washington, D.C., watching his mother struggle with addiction and being raised with his siblings by their grandmother.
“That was a tough time for me because if you can imagine being a kid and just watching your mom walk up and down the street struggling with drugs … and all of the pain that lives inside of you as a kid … you’ll either go this way, or that way, and for me, I wanted to be more than that.”
Davis said he was close to going down the wrong path while growing up, but wanted to change the dynamic of his family.
“I made that shift when I started losing my friends to the streets. One of my friends jumped off a bridge and with gun violence and things of that nature and I knew I had to get away from that, so I stayed in the house and I started to focus more on football and basketball.”
For Davis, sports was an outlet.
“So all that energy and just the pain, I put it into just trying to become the best player I could be,”Davis said.
The two-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion played tight end most notably for the San Francisco 49ers, but also spent time on the Denver Broncos and the Washington Commanders before retiring. His final stop in Washington is when he said he had the opportunity to cultivate his relationship with his mother, who died in 2021.
“In those four years, I got to know my mom better than I imagined. We spent time with the kids. We took trips,” he said.
Davis also spoke with “CBS Mornings” about his brother, Vontae Davis, who died earlier this year at the age of 35. The former Miami Dolphins cornerback was found dead in his Florida home. Authorities have not released a cause of death, but said foul play was not suspected.
“You know, he’s still out there somewhere,” Davis said of his brother. “I’m sure one day I’ll see him again, but it’s never easy when you lose someone that you’ve been talking to every single day. He was my best friend. He was just everything to me.”
After 14 seasons in the NFL, Davis transitioned into acting, and appeared in films like,”A Day to Die” with Bruce Willis and “The Ritual Killer” with Morgan Freeman. He said he has a new film coming out, “Please Don’t Feed the Children,” along with some other projects.
Davis is nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025.