The winding road for Jamin Davis has taken another turn.

Davis, the highly questionable selection by Ron Rivera in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, has again found another home. Last week, Davis was signed to the practice squad of the Las Vegas Raiders. Tuesday, the Raiders signed Davis to their active roster. Five years ago, when drafted by Washington in the first round, Davis was expected to be in his fifth NFL season with Washington, playing for his second contract (a much larger one).

Raiders signed LB Jamin Davis to their active roster from their practice squad and have placed G/C Jackson Powers-Johnson on injured reserve.

They also have signed K Greg Joseph to their practice squad.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 11, 2025

Yet, Davis is now on his fifth NFL team in these five seasons. Drafted entirely much too high at No. 19 (that is not hindsight BTW), Davis never reached anything close to playing at a first-round level. Davis found himself being inherited by the Dan Quinn-Adam Peters administration, though he had not performed up to the level of being taken so early by Rivera.

Quinn and Peters signed linebackers Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu in free agency and later moved Davis to defensive end. He played there throughout training camp and preseason. Davis was retained on the 53-man roster as they attempted to find a place for him. However, by October, Davis was not exhibiting enough to coaches that he could play on the edge or at linebacker. Thus, Davis was released on October 23, 2024.

Within a week, the Packers signed Davis to their practice squad, hoping to train him, develop him. However, the Vikings swooped in one month later, signing Davis from the Packers’ practice squad to their active roster. Literally one month later, the Vikings decided they had been wrong, Davis was not going to work out for them, so he was released, three days after Christmas.

Two days later, the Jets claimed Davis off waivers. But by March, the Jets were allowing Davis to become a free agent, able to sign with whatever NFL team wanted Davis. But a week later, Davis was re-signing with the Jets on a one-year deal.

Davis didn’t make it through to the regular season; however, the Jets released him in late August. Finding himself on the outside of the NFL for two months of this 2025 season, the Raiders are the next team to attempt to see if they can be the ones who get something of value out of Davis.

Davis was mysteriously drafted 19th overall as Ron Rivera reached for a linebacker, though several players rated higher than Davis were still available on the draft board, such as DL Kwity Paye, OT Christian Darrisaw, RB Najee Harris, RB Travis Etienne, WR Rashod Bateman, and DE Gregory Rousseau.

None of Rivera’s first-round picks are currently on Washington’s roster, which is part of the reason for the Commanders‘ struggles.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Washington Commanders: Ex-1st-round pick has a new home again