Zach Davidson (born July 15, 1998) is an

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 with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

for the

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of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Central Missouri The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 2019, enrollment was 11,229 students from 49 states and 59 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-profes ...

(where he played as punter as well) and was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

in the fifth round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early years

Davidson grew up in

Webb City, Missouri Webb City is a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,031 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. Webb City also has a police department, a fire department, and animal ...

and attended Webb City High School. He was originally a backup tight end on Webb City's junior varsity team, but became the punter for the varsity team after the Cardinals' regular punter was suspended. He was an All-State selection as a junior and senior at punter.

College career

Davidson began his career at Central Missouri solely as a punter and redshirted his true freshman year. As a redshirt freshman, he set a school record and finished second in the nation with 44.3 yards per punt on 47 punts and was named second-team All-

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

(MIAA). The following season, Davidson was an honorable mention All-MIAA selection at punter and also served as the Mules second tight end, finishing the season with 11 catches for 239 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He had 40 receptions for 894 Yards and 15 touchdowns in his redshirt junior and was named first-team All-MIAA at both punter and tight end as well as a first-team All-American. Davidson opted to forgo his redshirt senior season, which was to be played in the spring due to

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, and enter the

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Davidson was drafted by the

in the fifth round, 168th overall, of the

. He signed his four-year rookie contract on May 13, 2021. He was released on August 31, 2021 and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on January 8, 2022. Davidson was waived on August 30, 2022.

Buffalo Bills

On September 1, 2022, Davidson was signed to the

practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 23, 2023. On June 15, 2023, Davidson was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioCentral Missouri Mules bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Zach 1998 births Living people American football punters American football tight ends Central Missouri Mules football players People from Webb City, Missouri Players of American football from Missouri Minnesota Vikings players Buffalo Bills players