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Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jaguars–Dolphins preseason game Saturday was stopped with 8 minutes, 32 seconds remaining after Miami wide receiver Daewood Davis was carted off the field because of an injury.
Davis, 24, went down after being hit by Jaguars linebacker Dequan Jackson. Davis lay motionless on the field while being attended to by medical personnel from both teams. He was immobilized on a backboard and carted off the field.
Players from both teams gathered around Davis as he was being treated on the field, and coaches Mike McDaniel and Doug Pederson met with officials for several moments before the game was called with the Jaguars leading 31-18.
“Obviously, not anything you want to see,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “Obviously, a tough scene. The game we all love to play, and to see a guy go down like that … I know we’re all thinking about [him].”
Later Saturday, the Dolphins posted on their social media channels that Davis was “taken to Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville for further evaluation. He is conscious and has movement in all extremities.”
The Dolphins were “hurting but relieved” to learn Davis’ medical status, McDaniel said. The coach also told reporters that Davis was expected to remain at the hospital overnight.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill said his first reaction was to make sure Davis was moving. He went out onto the field to check on him, not caring whether he was allowed to or not.
“There was no way they were going to stop us from checking up on our brother, making sure he was all right,” Hill said.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said of Davis: “A lot of guys respect him. He’s very well respected in the locker room. He’s a great player. He’s a great teammate. He’s a great person. It just would’ve [been] hard to have gone back out after seeing something like that.”
McDaniel concurred.
“He’s a great spirit, first and foremost. He’s magnetic. He’s got a cool personality to him,” McDaniel said, fighting back tears. “He’s a guy that people really root for. That tells you a lot about a person.”
McDaniel added that it was “without a shadow of a doubt” the right decision to suspend the game, and Pederson agreed.
“As a head coach, you start looking at your team. You start looking at their team. You start looking at body language and where guys are mentally,” Pederson said. “We got player reps involved and New York involved. It’s the right thing to do at that time. This game is all about player safety. I know it’s a preseason game and some guys are fighting for spots and all that, but at the same time we want to make sure that everybody’s 100 percent.”
ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques contributed to this report.
