Eric Wayne Davis (born January 26, 1968) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player who was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the second round of the

1990 NFL draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Mar ...

. Davis played in 13 NFL seasons from 1990 to 2002. He played college football at Jacksonville State. In October 2008, he was elected to the Division II College Hall of Fame. In May 2013, he was inducted into the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame ...

College career

Davis played for Jacksonville State, which was at the time a Division II school, from 1986 to 1989. As a senior, he led the team to a 13-1 record, a

Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Southeastern United States. History Originally known as the Mi ...

championship, and an appeareance in the Division II championship game. He finished 1989 with 51 tackles, 8 pass deflections, and 6 interceptions. He was voted into the school's athletic hall of fame in 1999.

NFL career

Davis is the all-time leader in consecutive NFL playoff games (five) with at least one interception. Davis was a pivotal player in the 1994 NFC Championship Game versus the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

when he made two key plays early in the game: a 44-yard interception return for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

on the game's third play from scrimmage and a forced fumble on

Michael Irvin Michael Jerome Irvin (born March 5, 1966) is an American sports commentator and former professional football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 2007, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...

that led to another 49ers touchdown. These plays helped the 49ers beat the previous two-time champion Cowboys to advance to Super Bowl XXIX. The 49ers went on to beat the San Diego Chargers 49–26. In 1995, Davis went to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

and helped the 49ers be the number-one ranked defense. In 1996, he became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

and signed with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

, helping them reach the NFC title game only to lose to eventual Super Bowl XXXI champion Green Bay Packers. After playing for one year (2001) with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

, in 2002, he ended his career with the Detroit Lions.

Broadcasting career

In the 2000s, Davis worked as a color analyst for the 49ers during the

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

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, and also analyzed on

Comcast SportsNet Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquar ...

. In 2011, he was hired as the color analyst for the 49ers radio broadcasts, joining

Ted Robinson Ted Robinson may refer to: *Ted Robinson (golf course architect) (1923–2008), American golf course architect *Ted Robinson (sportscaster) (born 1957), American sportscaster *Ted Robinson (TV director) Ted Robinson (born 1944) is an Australian ...

in the booth, and replacing Gary Plummer. He was also the cohost of "The Drive with Tierney and Davis" on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco. In 2012, he became a cohost/analyst for a new weekday morning show on

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

titled ''

NFL AM ''NFL AM'' (also known as ''NFL All Morning'') is an NFL morning television program on NFL Network. The program premiered on Monday, July 30, 2012. It aired from 6a to 10a ET. On May 8, 2015, the program went on hiatus. Network executives stat ...

''. He continued to serve as the 49ers' radio analyst through the 2013 season. In 2015, he became a regular contributor on The Rich Eisen Show while moving to The NFL Network’s flagship program Total Access. In 2016 he became cohost on the afternoon drive show at ESPN LA. In 2017 Davis was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct by two makeup artists while Davis was working on Total Access. Davis was terminated from both ESPN and The NFL Network following the accusations. In 2019 he became cohost of Bleav in 49ers Podcast. In 2020 he was cleared of all sexual harassment allegations with all claims being dismissed With Prejudice in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Eric 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Anniston, Alabama African-American sports announcers African-American sports journalists American football cornerbacks American football safeties Jacksonville State Gamecocks football players San Francisco 49ers players Carolina Panthers players Denver Broncos players Detroit Lions players National Conference Pro Bowl players San Francisco 49ers announcers College football announcers National Football League announcers Journalists from Alabama Ed Block Courage Award recipients