Ashtyn
Davis.
Ashtyn
Davis.
California· 6'1"· 202 lb
"A Cal walk-on and All-America hurdler who came to football late and left with seven interceptions, offering rare deep-third range while a groin injury erased his entire pre-draft testing window."Pre-draft read
Davis is a center-field free safety who covers ground the way a hurdler does, with long, efficient strides that eat space without looking fast. He plays the deep middle comfortably, reads the quarterback from depth and closes on intermediate throws before the receiver can turn upfield. Range is the trait everything else is built on.
He is also a genuinely aggressive player for a light frame. He triggers downhill on run keys and will put his face on a ball carrier, though the tackling is more willing than reliable and he will bounce off bigger backs. He has the speed to carry receivers vertically, but his technique in tight man coverage is unrefined, and he plays best when the defense lets him see the play develop in front of him.
Two-high shell that keeps a rangy free safety in the deep half and lets him play the ball with his eyes on the quarterback.
Year 1 third safety and core special teamer with sub-package snaps in the deep third, with a ceiling as a starting free safety in a two-high defense.
A box-heavy role that puts him in the alley against tight ends and pulling guards every down, where the frame and tackling reliability break down.
The value is in range, not physicality; a defense that asks him to be the hammer rather than the eraser will get the worst version of him.
Ashtyn Davis 2019-2020 Senior Year Highlights, Cal S #27
Senior-season cutup, the best look at his range from the deep middle and his downhill triggers.
NFL Draft Highlights: Cal Safety Ashtyn Davis
Conference-produced draft reel covering the ball production across his three starting seasons.
How Ashtyn Davis Went From Cal Football Walk-On to Talented NFL Prospect
Background feature on the track-to-football path that defines his developmental profile.
Davis walked on at California as a track athlete and left as a starter and an NFL prospect. He was an All-America hurdler for the Cal track program and did not play football his first year on campus, which makes the development curve the central fact of his evaluation. He grew into the starting free safety job and produced steadily: 25 tackles as a freshman, 33 as a sophomore, 56 with four interceptions as a junior and 57 with two more as a senior. He closed at 171 tackles, seven interceptions and 12 passes defended in 48 games.
The tape showed a defender playing on instinct and speed rather than accumulated reps. He took correct angles from depth more often than not, closed on throws better than almost any safety in the class, and showed real ball skills once he arrived. He also missed tackles that a more physically developed player finishes, and his run fits came and went.
He entered the draft process as a riser and then could not complete it. A groin injury kept him from testing in Indianapolis, so teams evaluated the speed from track times and tape rather than a forty. That left the range unquestioned and the durability and refinement questions unanswered. The Jets took him at the top of the third round as a two-high safety for a defense that needed one.
- 01
Deep range
Covers the back half with true track speed and long strides, erasing throws into the deep third that most safeties simply cannot reach.
- 02
Ball skills
Seven career interceptions and 12 passes defended, showing the tracking ability and hands to finish plays rather than only arrive near them.
- 03
Downhill aggression
Willing to trigger on run keys and attack the alley despite a light frame, playing with more physical intent than his size suggests.
- 04
Athletic upside
An All-America hurdler who came to football late, which means the ceiling is still rising while most prospects his age have plateaued.
- 05
Special teams value
Speed and willingness translate immediately to coverage units, giving him a defined roster role while the defensive job develops.
- 01
Tackling reliability
Misses too many in space and struggles to bring down bigger ball carriers alone, a function of both technique and a light frame.
- 02
Football experience
Came to the sport late and played it only three full seasons, so the processing and route recognition lag behind the athletic tools.
- 03
Frame and durability
At barely 200 pounds he takes on more contact than his build supports, and a groin injury cost him the entire pre-draft testing process.
- 04
Man coverage technique
Has the speed to run with slot receivers but not yet the footwork or hand usage to stay attached through breaks in isolation.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
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- Vertical
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- 14repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | California | 12 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2017 | California | 12 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | California | 13 | 56 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| 2019 | California | 11 | 57 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Career | — | 48 | 171 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 3 |
Season figures sum exactly to the career line of 171 tackles, seven interceptions and 12 passes defended. California's own bio credits him with 49 games, 33 starts, 19 passes defensed and 2.5 tackles for loss; the differences come from how each source counts pass breakups and partial games.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rangy deep safety who wins with speed and ball production while the tackling stays a known limitation.
The ceiling version, where range and ball skills make him the back-end anchor of a defense and a consistent takeaway producer.
The developmental-swing version that stalls: a light, fast safety who never gets healthy enough or refined enough to hold a full-time job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The Jets never got a clean run at it. Davis played ten games as a rookie in 2020 and 13 in 2021 while missing time with injuries, then lost almost all of 2022 to a knee issue, appearing in 14 games but recording just three tackles. His best New York season was 2023, when he played all 17 games and produced 30 tackles, three interceptions and eight passes defensed as a rotational and sub-package safety. He followed it with 31 tackles and two interceptions in 2024, then signed with Miami in 2025 and finally got a full-time job: 12 starts in 15 games with 62 tackles, four passes defensed and an interception. He joined San Francisco for 2026. Through six seasons he has 34 starts in 86 games with roughly 217 tackles, nine interceptions and five forced fumbles.
In hindsight this is a fair third-round outcome rather than a hit or a miss. Davis has carved out a seven-year career as a rotational safety and special teams contributor, which is exactly the floor his profile promised, and the interceptions confirm the range and ball skills were real. What kept him from more was precisely what the evaluation flagged: durability and the missed reps from coming to football late. He needed continuity to develop, and injuries took it away in the years that would have mattered most.
Data note: from NY Giants