Earlier today, we looked at the Miami Dolphins' Vontae Davis and Brandon Marshall nearly fighting at practice this week. NFL.com's Jeff Darlington, who until recently was a Dolphins' beat writer, continued to work his sources to get the details on exactly what happened.
Apparently, Marshall did not appreciate the apparent disregard for practice several players, including Davis, seemed to have this week. The group spent a late night out in South Beach, and Davis arrived at practice late the next day. As Darlington put it:
"One of those players -- cornerback Vontae Davis -- didn't travel with the Dolphins to Kansas City as a result of his 'inability to act like a professional,' a team source said."
Marshall confronted Davis when he finally arrived at the practice, reportedly berating him for his failure to act like a professional in a time when the Dolphins, in the words of running back Reggie Bush, stink. The confrontation escalated, with both players shouting at each other, before Marshall threw a football, point-blank into Davis face. The football, and whatever Marshall said, apparently set off Davis, who wanted to "rip [Marshall's] head off."
Darlington reported that sources close to Davis had not heard about the late night and tardiness to practice, instead they were led to believe, by Davis, that he was being "suspended" because of the altercation with Marshall - despite Marshall being with the team this week.
"Vontae knows exactly why [he was left behind]," a source told Darlington.
"The altercation is 100 percent not the reason," another source confirmed.
Meanwhile, sources tell Darlington, several players later applauded Marshall's confrontation of Davis - although they may have disagreed with his tactics.
The Dolphins listed Davis as "out" on their official injury report for "non-injury" reasons - leading credence to the disciplinary reason for him to not travel with the team. Of the group who, reportedly, spent the night out this week, Davis was the only one to show up late for the day's training, and, according to Darlington's sources, "Davis' lack of professionalism -- which included being late for treatment and other important mandatory team events -- led to coach Tony Sparano's decision to leave the cornerback in Miami."
[UPDATE:] Further reports are coming out stating that Davis was drunk the night before, which I would have assumed from the "late night out in South Florida" part of the story. But, he reportedly still smelled like alcohol the next day when he did report to the practice, and was obviously hung over.