Vernon Davis Reveals The Strongest NFL Players He’s Ever Played With In His 14-Year Career

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You don’t earn the nickname “Cyborg” in college if you’re not built like a brick shithouse.

Aside from being a first-team All American at Maryland, Vernon Davis set school strength records for a tight end in the bench press (460 pounds), power-clean (380 pounds), index (824 pounds) and squat (685 pounds).

A couple years back, Muscle & Fitness posed the question: Is Vernon Davis the NFL’s best-ever athlete?, providing data points that make the question seem far less outlandish:

  • 6’3”, 253 pounds
  • 480 pound bench press
  • 4.38 40-yard dash
  • 42-inch vertical leap

The now retired tight end is, by all metrics, a freak of nature.

We recently sat down with Vernon to not only discuss his cartoonish strength, but the two NFL players who gave him a run for his money in his career.

Listen at the 1 hour, 37 minute mark.

 

  1. TRENT WILLIAMS

In 2016, 6-foot-5 offensive lineman went viral for repping pull-ups with a 90-pound weight belt coupled with his 320-pound frame.

He also nearly murdered Richard Sherman.

2. ISAAC SOPOAGA

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“Naturally strong. If you were looking at him, you probably think he could lift a house. So strong. His calf muscle, it would probably take six of my calve muscles together to look like his.”

The 6-foot-2, 320 pounder enjoyed a decade-long career in the NFL after setting the single season sack record for JUCO (College of the Canyons) at 31. The giant Samoan was capable of throwing the ball 78 yards flat-footed because as a kid he’d throw rocks at coconuts up to 70 feet high hanging from the trees. He claimed developed enough strength and accuracy to knock down five or six coconuts in a matter of five minutes.

I believe him.

Listen to the entire podcast with Vernon Davis (and ESPN analyst Jay Williams) below: 

 

 

 

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Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.