Fall 2024

Linebacker Demario Davis to sign 3-year deal with New Orleans

Linebacker Demario Davis will sign a three-year, $24 million contract ($18 million guaranteed) with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday, according to ESPN.

Davis had a spectacular season with the Jets in 2017, leading the team in tackles and sacks, while playing and starting all 16 games. His 135 tackles were good for sixth overall in the NFL.

Demario’s faith is what sustains him, and he wrote on The Increase that living for Christ is his No. 1 priority in life.

“My life is not my own, it belongs to God,” Davis wrote in February. “And He wants all of it because He knows how to use it best. I don’t get to wake up and do what I want to do, because sometimes my heart’s in the right place and sometimes it’s not. But when I remember that my life is not my own, that it belongs to God, then I can surrender to His will instead of my fleshly desires.”

RELATED: THE INCREASE: Living for the King – Demario Davis

Davis grew up in a life of drugs, alcohol and sex in high school, without a father figure around to show him the way to live. It was a moment in college when he says God took away the desire to live for the world.

“I just prayed, the most sincere prayer I’ve ever prayed — ‘God, I need a new heart.’ I started to understand why Jesus had to die on the cross. He had to pay for those sins. Until we get a new heart, we can’t fix what is inside of us until God comes inside. It was like he was taking the scales from my eyes. I said, ‘God, You’re the Lord of my life. I going to choose to serve You.'”

Davis says it was getting his priorities straight and living in obedience to God that he started seeing his relationship with Jesus really grow.

“God is a god of order. When we do things in His order, He can bless them more. I let go and I said, ‘God I trust you, I don’t know where You’re going to take me.’ And He’s brought me closer and closer to Him.”

RELATED STORIES:
Football Sunday 2018: Demario Davis on Seeking God
THE INCREASE: Seek Him First – Demario Davis
Demario Davis joins the Sports Spectrum Podcast
THE INCREASE: Not Ashamed To Speak Up – Demario Davis