Tyrone Davis, Former Green Bay Packers Tight End, Dead at 50

By Brian Jones

Tyrone Davis, a former NFL tight end who spent the majority of his career with the Green Bay Packers, died on Oct. 3, the Packers announced on Wednesday. He was 50 years old. According to Jerry Ratcliffe of JerryRatcliffe.com, the cause of death was an undisclosed illness. His funeral was on Oct. 8. 

"This is by far one of the hardest posts to write," said Davis' older brother, Jeff, on a Facebook post shortly after Davis' death. "Last night, the Lord opened up heaven and received my baby brother. This is definitely a tough one for me as this was very unexpected. "Tyrone caught many touchdowns in the NCAA and NFL. Last night, he made the ultimate touchdown completion! Take your rest lil bro. Your race is now complete. Big bro loves you!!" 

Davis, who played college football at Virginia, began his NFL career with the New York Jets in 1995 as he was selected by the team in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. He was traded to the Green Bay Packers in August 1997 and would be with the team for six seasons. His best season with the Packers was in 1998 when he caught 18 passes for 250 yards and seven touchdowns. In his career, Davis played in 75 games and caught 73 passes for 795 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also played in seven playoff games with the Packers including Super Bowl XXXII. 

In college, Davis was a star wide receiver for the Virginia Cavaliers. From 1991-1994, Davis caught 28 touchdown passes which was a school record at the time. He remains sixth on Virginia's receiving yardage list with 103 catches for 2,153 yards. In 1991, Davis caught a 91-yard pass, which is the fourth-longest reception in Cavaliers' history. 

"It was truly shocking when I got a text message from Carl Smith on Monday, that Tyrone had passed away," former teammate Chris Harrison told JerryRatcliffe.com. "I hadn't seen him this season, but was looking forward to seeing him this weekend because we are all getting together to honor James Farrior."  

"He lost a bunch of weight at one point, then put it back on, and I know he had some kidney problems, so I was really worried about him during the pandemic," former teammate Bill Curry Jr. told JerryRatcliffe.com. "I was super relieved that he was OK, but when he came to the Richmond game, he tried to talk up to sit with us about 25 rows up, but he couldn't make it up the stairs. We went back down to the tunnel (field level) and they looked after him. He actually watched the game from the tunnel by the locker room. It was so sad because he was such an incredibly awesome human being."

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