The locker room was empty when he arrived. He took off his jersey and his shoulder pads and texted Megan. "Babe I'm done. I'm hanging up my cleats. I don't want to put my body through this anymore." The message startled her.
Right now? she thought
. In the middle of the game? She knew Vontae didn't want anyone to talk him out of his decision. Instead, her first instinct was just to be there for him. "OK, I'll meet you at home," she responded.
Davis skipped his shower, changed into his clothes, left everything in his locker and walked out the door to the players parking lot before his teammates and coaches arrived.
Meanwhile, 375 miles away in D.C., where his Redskins were playing the Colts, Vernon had just entered the locker room at halftime. He saw a missed call from his brother, which was odd -- they never called each other during games. So he called back and asked if everything was OK.
"I'm calling to let you know that I'm retired," Vontae said.
Vernon's heart sank. "Are you serious, or are you joking?"
" ... I'm tired," Vontae said.
He called his grandmother and a couple of close friends, then waited at the town house for his wife's arrival. By then, the news had spread among his Bills teammates and coaches, first as a rumor, then as a bizarre truth --
No. 22 was nowhere in sight.
Megan neared the town house, not sure of what to say or how to react. She opened the front door, and there he was, standing in street clothes in the kitchen, as his team began the third quarter. It was awkward, and Megan couldn't help herself. She started to laugh.
"Damn! You just left the stadium!" she said, and as she kept laughing, Davis started to laugh too.
"I'm never going to hear the end of this," he said.
Their laughs quickly turned to tears. He looked frazzled but light. She asked him how he was doing.
"I feel free like a bird," he said, and with that, she grabbed a bottle of their favorite tequila, Don Julio 1942, and the only juice they had in the refrigerator, orange, and poured them each a heavy glass.
It wasn't a moment of celebration. It was a moment of reflection.
FOR DAVIS, FOOTBALL had always been more of a job than a passion. He loved the feeling of being on the field -- and being great at it. But throughout his career, he struggled with the constant injuries, painkiller culture and business side of the NFL.
After three years at the University of Illinois, he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the first round in 2009. He earned all-rookie honors that season. His first interception was a pick-six against the Bills, and in the two games he played against the New England Patriots, he intercepted
Tom Brady twice, both while covering Randy Moss.
He was also introduced to the prescription painkiller Toradol. In his rookie year, Davis watched many of his veteran teammates take it before games and sometimes practice. He never liked the idea of painkillers -- he rarely even took Tylenol or Advil. But as he adjusted to the violence of the NFL, Toradol made him feel numb on the field, masking any bumps or bruises. "Guys can run through a brick wall on that stuff," he says.
There were flashes of greatness in the next two seasons for the Dolphins, like the improbable goal-line interception against Brett Favre, a pass that Davis tipped, juggled and caught flat on his back. Then there were the off-the-field mishaps. He was benched for the start of a game in 2010 for breaking an unspecified team rule, and the next year he was suspended a game for arriving late and hungover to practice. The media labeled him immature and problematic, which bothered Davis.
"I'm 23 years old," he says today. "Who's never shown up to work hungover once? Only difference is I'm in the public eye."
And that never came naturally. Davis was quiet and reserved, raised in Washington, D.C., by his grandma, who took in Davis and his six siblings from parents who battled drug addiction. In sports, he was stuck in the shadow of Vernon, his oldest brother, an elite high school football player who'd go on to star in college and the NFL.
Vontae Davis never sought the spotlight. That's why he was upset with how his Dolphins tenure ended. The team was featured on HBO's "Hard Knocks" in 2012, and in the fourth episode, he sat across from GM Jeff Ireland in his office and learned he'd been traded to the Colts.
Davis' first reaction was to ask whether he could call his grandma and his brother. He didn't know cameras were tucked inside the room, capturing his intimate moment that would become
a viral sensation.
"There's this perception that there's brotherhood in the NFL and we're all fighting for each other and the same things," Megan says. "And then you embarrass one of your first-round draft picks on national television without him knowing there's a camera in the room?"
"I felt kind of violated," Vontae says. "It was a lot of B.S."
But things worked out with the Colts. After two years, he earned a huge contract -- four years and $39 million. The vote of confidence translated to his best-ever season. In 2014, he finished tied for fourth in the league in passes defended, adding five more in a playoff win against Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos.
Davis was a Pro Bowler, and was again in 2015. He became a fan favorite and in the process had grown very close to head coach Chuck Pagano. The two texted frequently about football and life. Pagano even attended Davis' 2015 wedding in Puerto Rico.
For a few years, it seemed Davis had discovered his path to success in the NFL. But he never felt defined by football. In a way, it pulled him from his other interests. Davis loved traveling but could do so only during the offseason. He became interested in finance, wanting to open a business, but never found the time to immerse himself in the logistics.
He knew football would always be a means to an end more than his reason for being. But in a city he loved, with a coach who cared for him, Davis was happy.
THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, Megan rarely saw Vontae bring home a bad game.
Can't play well every Sunday, he'd tell her, then move on.
Except on Thanksgiving Day 2016.
Davis had been limping around the house in the days before the game. His groin was bothering him, just like it had off and on throughout his career. Megan told him not to play, but Vontae suited up anyway, matching up against All-Pro wide receiver
Antonio Brown, who scored three touchdowns and had 91 receiving yards. When Davis got home later that night, he didn't leave the bedroom for a full day.