Former NFL TE Vernon Davis on George Kittle's game | 'GMFB'

Look who we found to sit at our breakfast table Vernon Davis. Vernon Davis is here. Former NFL tight end. You know him from a handful of your favorite teams. Vernon, you look great. Welcome in. Good to be here. I appreciate you. So, this is we always appreciate anybody that comes to the table. This is always a touchy thing because we love in August the Hall of Fame game. We love watching the features on the knocks on the door. As someone who is now eligible for the Hall of Fame in your first year, is this something that you think about? You watch cars drive up your driveway? Is it happening? Is it now? Is this on your mind or do you push it back? No I don't, I kind of push it back. I mean, I'm just I'm just grateful for just people, just the respect and the love and just knowing that people really admire what my work that I put out. So it's an honor if I get it or not. It's. I'm still grateful, man. You going to be crying like crazy if they come knocking on that door. You're right, you're right, I am, I am, I am crying. No, I know I'm gonna be crying, but I'm just saying I just, you know, if it doesn't happen, it's just like one of those things. I'm just. It's an honor to be associated with that. Yeah, but I mean, look, you did it, though. You balled out, you're being humble and all that stuff, man. But just watching you play so exciting. You look at the 49 ers, and every time I see George Kittle like I can't see George Kittle without thinking of the first 85 who balled out in that number for the 40 niners. When you look at George Kittle, what is it that you see in his game that makes him so elite. What are the similarities that you guys have. Yeah George Kittle he's a I think of him as a magician. I watch him. One thing that he does really well is he gets from A to B, meaning A to B. From the time you catch that ball, you put your foot down, you get upfield, get the first down and score a touchdown. And that's one thing they teach us. And that's very important to the game, especially when you're playing on offense. And he does that really, really well. He's tough. He's relentless. He uses his hands. He just does everything the right way. He's that tight end that you want. And if I'm going to get a tight end in the draft, I'm looking at someone who's just like George Kittle, who can do it all. And you said the similarities are between you two. The similarities, I would say, is, maybe being able to run after the catch. Yeah, yeah. He has a unique ability to be able to do that. Probably better than me. Yeah Well, you know, you talked about the love and the respect that you got. I was one of those guys, Vernon, that everybody knows. We grew up big 40 Niners fans. My I was a 40 niner fan all the way up until I got drafted by the Chargers. But I remember when the Niners drafted you, you had a head coach. His name was Mike Nolan. Mike Nolan was my linebacker coach for four years out of my eight year career. So I have a very special relationship with Mike. Talk a little bit about how those relationships with your coaches impacted you on and off the field, and how it you know, led to your play. Yeah, I think it's, so, Mike, when I was, when I got drafted in 2006, Mike Nolan was there, obviously. And he was he's one of those coaches that doesn't really say a lot. He he'll get on you when he needs to. And I don't feel like I made a great connection with him. There was nothing really there. We didn't have that experience. You know, you have to go through experiences to really know, to really figure out someone and know if you feel that synergy, you know what I mean? But Coach Singletary, I mean, we had that. Everyone knows about the dispute we had when he sent me to the locker room on national television. That was crazy. I remember going home. I was with my girlfriend. I'm looking at TV. I'm like, oh, yeah, right. I felt let down. But then I knew I had to get up that next morning and go face Mike Singletary. But that that moment really allowed me to be able to look myself in the mirror and say, hey, I need to change. I need to do better. In order for me to be a leader, I have to listen to what this man is telling me. And from there I knew he was on my side and I felt the love. I felt like he was my dad. I felt like he's my brother, my mentor. And since then, we've just been, nothing but great friends. Yeah, yeah, I love that. I love that, yeah, yeah. That's cool. And, Vernon, it's great to see you, man. We've always thought you're one of the most interesting guys. Top to bottom in all of football. I think another person who fits that description is going to be walking the sidelines on the stadium right next to you right now, one of your other former head coaches, Jim Harbaugh. Here's the deal, Vernon. Everybody has a Jim Harbaugh story. Let's just say he has a unique personality. Get into it. Think about it for a second if you need to. What is your best Jim Harbaugh story? My best Jim Harbaugh story I have to say, man, there's been so many things I just when I think of Jim Harbaugh, I think about that ink stain he has on his khakis that he always yeah, he always got that ink stain on his pocket. But my best my best story is when he suited up I was walking out to practice. He suited up I mean from from head to toe. He had all the gear on and I looked. I was like, who's this new guy? I turned he turned around. He's like, That's Jim Harbaugh. He's out there going with the second. The second team and he's throwing, he's competing. I'm like, wow, this is a heck of a coach. I've never seen anything like it. Maybe that story is not that interesting. But to me it was. Yeah. That's interesting. It was amazing to see that. I've never seen that in a head coach. But did it make you look at him differently to appreciate him? Respect him? Like, what did that experience of watching him operate that way do for you? Well, I thought it was like I was like, man, this guy is, he's great. I mean, his personality, that's what you want. You want a coach, that's this with you that you feel like you can really connect with. And I connected with him. I think the entire team connected. They can attest to this. But he was just he just had this this charisma about him that made you want to win for him. And I think that's why I think that's his formula. I mean, we watched him. He can go from college. He can go to the pros. He can go anywhere and be able to turn the team around. He just has that unique ability to be able to do that. Getting that, getting those guys to rally behind him. Yeah, the connection, if anybody doesn't know Vernon is a movie star. And I don't mean like he's this NFL guy who makes a cameo and has one line, Vernon's been after this thing for years. He has a long resume of projects. He's done in the past, projects he's doing in the future. And Vernon, I think it's really, really cool. But you've you've worked with some legends. I want to we want to pick your brain on a couple. You did a movie called The Ritual Killer with Morgan Freeman. You also worked with Jean-Claude Van Damme, who was like one of the all time goats. Like, tell us, Morgan Freeman and tell us Van Damme stories, please, whatever you got. Well, the Van Claude Jean-Claude Van Damme movie didn't go through. I didn't make the cut for that one. I guess I wasn't good enough. What? It's okay, but I did work with Mr. Morgan Freeman. He was very impressive. I remember there was a scene we had when I'm staring out the window. He comes in. He didn't know I did this. But, you know, as athletes, we go above and beyond, right? I learned the actual language of South Africa. Oh, yeah, I learned the language. So he turns around and I'm. And I look at him, he look at me and I say, cuilapa muscle casa, la casa. He said, no, no. He said, say it like this, say it like this. Say it like a threat. I was like, what do you mean? He was like, I want you to whisper it at the end. He's like, please, sir, and I did it. I was like, wow, this man is amazing. But he was very he came to me. He was like, good job, son. Good job, son. Now you talk, right? Yeah, yeah, that's like I'm like, Mr. Morgan Freeman gave me some good advice. Oh my goodness. I was shaking when he was telling me. I was like oh I'm nervous. Yeah, that's the OG. I remember I saw that on your IG and I was just like, yo, man, I just had a moment where I was just like, man, you're doing it like, that's like you're next to Morgan Freeman. Like, that's that's Morgan Freeman, man. Yeah, that was dope, man. I mea, I wouldn't take that. And just watching him on set was pretty amazing. Like that dude, he was the first one on set. The last one to leave. Wow, 80 something years old. I watched that, I said, what? I said I got a long way to go because this man is approaching this thing like he just walked in it. Yeah, I see why he's so successful. It is my mistake. You have already made it in life since Morgan Freeman said good job, son to you. I mean, does that not it like that is the pinnacle. It feels like you put that on your IMDb. Yeah, that's the pinnacle. I mean, I mean, thank you for saying I made it in life. I don't feel like I did anything in life. I feel like I'm just, I don't know, got an attaboy for Morgan Freeman? Yeah, I got a boy, right? Yeah. He put me on my head. Mr. Morgan Freeman, more nervous? Your rookie, your rookie year, your first game, your rookie season, or being right next to Morgan Freeman and having to, like, shoot out your lines in front of Morgan Freeman? That's tough, because I was lined up in front of Warren Sapp, my first game I played ooh ooh ooh. No, thank you I don't know, man. He's like, I don't know about that one. I love you, Morgan. That's a good I don't know, I don't know, I don't I don't know. I got to go back and think about that one. Well you've been doing some thinking recently and you've been putting words to paper. You're coming out with a book, or you came out with a book called Playing Ball. What made you want to do this, well, I just feel like there's never there's always at any given moment, I feel like if there's something you want to do, then you should go ahead and do it right. Life is so short and I can't wait. There's no expiration date on life, so I don't know if I'm gonna make it to 70 or 80 years old, so why not start now? The best time to start is right now, and I feel like based on my journey, I've done a lot of stuff right. I always feel like I'm just getting started, but I can go out and I can inspire a lot of people. I can empower people based on my experiences in life, things I've been through because people think that we're superhumans, because we play this, play this game of ball. But we're just like everybody else. We have depression. We go through panic disorder. We feel like backup is up against the wall and we're about to about to we want to give up. You know, we there's been moments in my life where I wanted to quit when I was leaving Denver and going to Washington, to the Washington Commanders. That was the only team that I felt like they wanted me. No, no other team called me in. Right. And I was sitting there. I had a moment to myself. I said, I'm about to take a pay cut. I'm about to make. I was making $5. Now I'm about to make a dollar, right? I'm playing behind Jordan Reed and Alice Paul. These guys don't see anything in me. They don't believe in me. And I'm used to being the man like I was the man, right? So I'm like, okay, I want I don't want to play this game no more. I'm about to give up. I'm in my hometown. I can't do this no more. I can't do this. So I'm about to quit. But I said, you know what? That's not me. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep pressing forward. So I went out there, did my thing six, six, probably like mid season. They came to me, said, hey Vernon, we want to give you another contract for three more years. And I made my $5 back. Now I'm making my $5. Now I can go, I can go get me a bag of potato chips. There you go. I'll give me a bag of potato chips. I can go get it. That and the whole f