Gabe Davis agrees to terms with Jaguars on 3-year deal: Sources

By Jeff Howe, Dianna Russini and Joe Buscaglia

The Jacksonville Jaguars have agreed to terms with former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Gabe Davis, according to league sources. It’s a three-year deal for $39 million with incentives that could get him to $50 million. The Jaguars are also reportedly signing former Green Bay Packers safety Darnell Savage to a three-year deal.

Davis, 25, has spent the past four seasons with the Bills after the franchise selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Davis shined during Buffalo’s 2021 playoff run with 10 catches for 242 yards and five touchdowns through two postseason games. This past season he played in all 17 games and caught 45 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns.

He played in 83 percent of the Bills’ offensive snaps and contributed heavily as a run-blocking receiver.

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Mueller’s scouting report on Davis

Davis will not jump off the screen with his explosiveness, as he is more of a steady and consistent type. He is an easily identifiable target because of his size, especially versus zone defense. He can adjust and make catches outside his frame, and he’s physical while fighting through contact on his routes — being big and strong are obvious advantages.

He is still developing as a route runner and as a coverage reader. Because of this, and given his age, he offers a lot of upside. He is solid in all areas, just not elite in any. — Randy Mueller, NFL staff writer

What’s next for the Bills after losing Davis?

Leading up to the 2023 season, Buffalo had communicated with Gabe Davis’ representatives about a potential extension. But once the season began and more games went by, the two sides remained apart, and a parting of the ways seemed like a foregone conclusion. Then, one day after the Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and were eliminated from the playoffs, Davis told reporters he intended to head to free agency in March to test his market.

Buffalo was not only cap-strapped this offseason, facing a deficit of over $40 million to begin the offseason but have almost a $28 million cap hit assigned to the position with top receiver Stefon Diggs. The team has also talked a lot in the offseason about getting more explosive plays on offense, and that’s an area where Davis had grown to be inconsistent.

The Bills will miss Davis as their every-down starter at the X-receiver position and their top blocker of all the receivers. The team relied on him to play well over 85 percent of offensive snaps of his games played because of his pass-catching and run-blocking versatility. Davis also had the knack for coming up with a humongous statistical output occasionally, but that boom-or-bust nature of his receiving profile brought along some frustration.

Davis was held to two or fewer catches in eight of his 16 games played this season, and in four of those, he did not have a reception. Despite the unpredictable weekly receiving output, Buffalo was quite fond of Davis in the locker room and for his work ethic. The Bills will likely look to address the receiver position in a meaningful way this offseason, most likely through the draft. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills staff writer

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(Photo: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)