GREEN BAY – Tyler Davis likes checkpoints…and cake.
So, after the Packers tight end tore his anterior cruciate ligament in 2023, Davis let the disappointment linger for a few days before shifting his focus to surgery, rehab and ultimately a return to play.
Instead of staring directly at a lengthy recovery, the fifth-year NFL veteran did the next best thing – he bought a cake. Each time Davis crossed a marker in his rehab, he and the Packers' training staff would celebrate with a new confection.
Flour. Cookie. Ice cream. By the end, they ate them all.
"Anytime there was a milestone, we had a party in here," said Davis recently. "When you have an ACL and it's 9-11 months, looking that far into the future, it's gonna crush you. But if you break it up and you're like, 'Oh, I have a party in eight weeks and we're gonna celebrate this for all the work that we did' … It helps to have something to look forward to in not a long-term date that you can't even fathom."
Davis made a full recovery and returned in time for training camp. In recognition of his comeback, the Packers' coaches made the 6-foot-4, 252-pound tight end a captain for his first preseason game against Denver last August.
Davis' wife Sydney sent him a nice text message beforehand, congratulating her husband on his achievement and expressing how proud she was of him for everything he put into his rehab.
As the plan called for, Davis played 17 snaps between offense and special teams during the first half against the Broncos. Afterwards, he felt a twinge of shoulder pain but texted Sydney he should be fine.
An MRI after flying back to Green Bay said otherwise. Days later, he underwent season-ending surgery. The comeback was over before it really even started.
"Obviously in the moment, heartbroken," Davis said. "I knew how much work I put into coming back from the knee. I'm laughing now. I took off like 10 days total coming back from my knee. For this same exact thing to happen two times in a row obviously was crushing. But I've been through it. If there's any positive to take from it, I knew the mindset I would need going into it."
It wasn't easy to overcome the latest setback, but Davis kept the same energy he did with his ACL recovery. It's not always cakes serving as his motivation, either.
When Davis was given the green light to walk again after his ACL surgery last year, he went down to the Lambeau Field loading dock with fellow tight end Tucker Kraft, former Packers running back Aaron Jones and athletic trainers Bryan "Flea" Engel and Nate Weir and threw his crutches into the trash compactor.
This time around, Davis said he's made plans to throw his post-op sling into a bonfire at Kraft's place. With every little victory along the way, Davis feels closer to his goal of playing again.
"Tyler had shown his toughness even prior to his injuries," Kraft said. "When you have two season-ending injuries like that, you can fold up your (stuff) and pack it up and go home, or you can go to work like he does every single day and continue to progress and get better and be a good teammate."
Davis joined the Packers off waivers from Indianapolis in 2021 and quickly established himself as one of Green Bay's top special-teams players.
While it's been two full seasons since Davis last appeared in an NFL regular-season game, the 27-year-old tight end still hopes his future lies in Green Bay. An unrestricted free agent in March, Davis feels ready to get his career back on track in 2025.
Once again, Davis didn't take many days off during his rehab. He worked closely with strength and conditioning coordinator Aaron Hill to stay on track and feels "better than I ever have" now six months out from surgery.
"I worked really hard to get back and I've worked really hard to get back this year, too," Davis said. "It's not like it's a foreign process to me. I'm putting everything into this rehab like I did the last one. Made the best of the worst. Everything's moving in the right direction."
Davis also has a new source of inspiration in his latest comeback, as he and Sydney are expecting their first child this year.
"We have a lot of exciting stuff to look forward to," Davis said. "In life, you get dealt cards and you just gotta play the cards that you're dealt and attack it with everything that you got. Have a positive attitude. That's what I tried to do."
