Lowell Cohn: It's good to see Vernon Davis back in Bay Area

SAN JOSE - I root for Vernon Davis. My professional distance out the window.

Hard not to root for him. He has one of those expansive personalities that flow over all social barriers. He is welcoming. He is polite. He seems interested in you - whoever you are.

He has a good heart. Seems to. It’s impossible to know how athletes really are. We know only what they show us. But around this Super Bowl Week, reporters who covered Davis with the 49ers are glad to see him, wish him well, linger in his presence.

And, of course, reporters pointed out to him the irony of leaving the Niners this season, the Niners who play in Levi’s Stadium, and now he’s returning as a member of the AFC champion Denver Broncos.

“You don’t always get the things you want when you want them,” Davis said, “but when I left here as a 49er and went to the Denver Broncos, I said there has to be a reason I’m going there. I kept believing. I didn’t know too much about the team, but I did know that I was walking into a team that was together and was all about winning.”

In other words, the 49ers are the Super Bowl host team and they are hosting Davis, whom they traded. Life sure is strange.

Also strange is this. Davis lives 12 minutes from Levi’s Stadium. The first night of Super Bowl Week, he got to sleep in his bed and shop at his neighborhood Whole Foods. Sweet.

Did it bother him to get traded from the 49ers?

“Of course, it did. I’d been here my entire career. I live here. I’ll probably continue to live here. I heard some rumors about it, so it didn’t quite catch me off guard. I could feel something was coming on, but I didn’t know when. It happens.”

Time out for two Davis interludes.

First Interlude: In 49ers training camp 2011, tight end Nate Byham went down with a torn ACL - no one knew it that moment. As Byham lay on the ground, Jim Harbaugh blew his whistle and ordered the team to another field. Nothing wrong with that. Harbaugh had work to do. All the players ran to the next field.

Except Davis. He kneeled over his fallen teammate and spoke softly to Byham. Stayed there a long time. Did not run after Harbaugh. Disobeyed orders. I watched Davis with admiration.

Second Interlude: When Davis became a 49er, I read his profile in the media guide. Tip for beginning journalists - read the section marked “Personal.” You learn stuff. I learned Davis was a studio art major at Maryland. Studio art major? Knocked me over. I mean what tight end is a studio art major? What professional athlete is a studio art major? Picasso would have been a studio art major.

So, I went over to Davis and asked what it meant to be a studio art major, and he said he studied painting. As in he was a painter. He had set up an easel and his paints in his garage and still was painting.

Could I see his paintings?

Sure. When?

He agreed to bring some to the 49ers facility. I brought me and a photographer from The Press Democrat. When I got to the grass behind the headquarters building - 100 yards or so from the fields and the tackling dummies - what did I see? About a dozen easels on the grass, each holding an original Vernon Davis. All impressionistic - if that’s the right term. All good, to my eyes.

He led me through the exhibition, so proud. A football player showing off his creativity. Two players walked out from lunch to look. Guess who.

Frank Gore and Patrick Willis.

They joined the tour, Davis the docent. We all were quiet and serious like we were at SFMOMA. Gore and Willis saw Davis a new way, I thought. They never had considered him like this. He was a stern blocker and he could run fast and make great catches, but this play of light on canvas, and this mix of colors and these unusual shapes. Well, imagine that.

Vernon Davis is one of the unique athlete-people anyone ever meets.

But he primarily is a football player - for our purposes. And this we notice. He does not start for the Broncos, is not a major part of their offense. Did not score a touchdown this season. At one point, he was among the most dynamic tight ends in the league. What’s going on?

“It’s been tough,” he said at one interview session. “Whenever you just jump into an offense and you have to learn the playbook, especially a play book that involves Peyton Manning, it can be very challenging. But I’m sticking with it and I’m continuing to study. There’s so much. I mean Peyton, he has signals. He audibles out of plays. He’s checking out. He’s moving like this. (Davis goes all herky-jerky.) He’s touching his shoe. He’s just different. He’s unique. I’ve never been around a quarterback like Peyton Manning before. I’m just in awe.”

OK, Davis is enduring a period of adjustment. Still learning the fine points of the Denver playbook. It’s just that Davis’ production had declined with the 49ers. That’s why they traded him to Denver.

Someone - not me - asked if, at 32, his best days as a player are over. He smiled. “That’s good,” he said. “That’s what I want them to say. You haven’t seen me, but there’s a chance that you could see me. Anything could happen just like that. I’m a patient guy and I’m ready.”

And this is where the rooting comes in. Would be nice if he has a big Super Bowl. For his good nature. For the paintings he lugged to the grass. For old time’s sake.

Visit the Cohn Zohn blog at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.