Schwartz: Red Bulls May Have Heir Apparent To McCarty In Davis

By Peter Schwartz
» More Columns

All Sean Davis wanted was a chance to play.

Opportunities for a young player can come in many different ways, but in the case of the Red Bulls' midfielder, he got his under somewhat sobering circumstances.

That said, though, he took advantage of it.

"Unfortunately, it came when Dax got injured in Chicago," Davis told WFAN.com.

Davis was referring to this past July 31 when team captain Dax McCarty suffered a tibia fracture in a game against the Fire and would end up being sidelined for weeks. After playing in just 14 games and starting four of them during his rookie season back in 2015, Davis was waiting patiently for his chance and suddenly it was right there in front of him.

By working hard in practice, he was ready to fill some pretty big shoes.

"I felt like I approached each day leading up to that point the right way," said Davis, who turns 24 on Feb. 9. "I put a lot into each training session knowing that at any point that chance might come. When it finally did come, I felt prepared."

Davis would appear in 21 games during the 2016 season, including making 11 starts. However, there is an even bigger opportunity in front of him. Heading into the new season, he'll be given every opportunity to fill the void left by McCarty, who was traded to Chicago on Monday in exchange for $400,000 in general allocation money.

The club's all-time leader with 163 regular season starts and 14,381 minutes, McCarty had been the Red Bulls' captain for the last two seasons, so the move came as a bit of a surprise.

It certainly caught Davis off guard.

"I was shocked to be honest with you," said Davis, a homegrown player from Holmdel, New Jersey. "I was disappointed to hear the news, just because I know how much (McCarty) means to the club, the fans, and the locker room. I've been able to learn so much from a personal standpoint. He's a guy that means a lot to me."

To illustrate just how important McCarty was to Davis, you need only look back at the week after the Red Bulls' fan favorite was injured. On Aug. 7, the Red Bulls were in Los Angeles to face the Galaxy and the game was scoreless at halftime. That's when McCarty provided Davis with some important advice.

"He told me to be more aggressive going forward," Davis said.

In the 74th minute, Davis made his way into the penalty box, took a pass from Felipe, and put the ball inside the far-right post for his first MLS goal.

"I think that really summarizes our relationship," Davis said. "He always wanted to see me do well. I look back on our relationship and I have nothing but good things to say about him, what he brought to the team, and what he's done to help me grow as a player."

And now, with McCarty's departure, Davis has an opportunity for a bigger role with the Red Bulls. Davis has the inside track on becoming a full-time starter, but said he is not about to take anything for granted.

"I think, first off, the spot is open for anybody," Davis said. "It's up to me to try and earn that spot and I have to take every session very serious and I have to do everything in my power to try and earn that spot and hold it. It's definitely a position that's not going to be just given to me."

The first chance for Davis to seize this golden opportunity will come on Feb. 22 when the Red Bulls host Vancouver in the quarterfinals of the Champions League tournament. From there, the two-time defending Eastern Conference regular season champions will continue their quest for an MLS Cup when they open the 2017 campaign in Atlanta on March 5.

After back-to-back playoff disappointments, Davis and the Red Bulls have some unfinished business to take care this year after getting knocked off by Montreal in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"That was a really tough ending to the season" Davis said. "We've learned a lot from that. This club deserves the MLS championship and that's why we all show up every day to work towards that. It's a big goal for the club, a big goal for the players, and I know that the fans deserve it."

Spoken like a true leader. In fact, when you look at how Davis conducts himself on and off the pitch, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he could be the Red Bulls' captain someday.

It's clear that the former captain taught him well, one of the many contributions that McCarty made during his time with the Red Bulls.

"He's always been one to help me improve on things that I need to work on and also compliment me on things he thought I did well," said Davis, a former star player at Duke. "I feel like he was a big part of my growth over the past two years."

After the trade, Davis said he spoke briefly with McCarty and wished him well, but there will certainly be opportunities for an expanded conversation and a little meet-up on the field. The first one will be on April 29 in what should be an emotional evening when McCarty makes his return to Red Bull Arena to face his former teammates for the first time.

Will it be weird for Davis to see McCarty in a Fire uniform?

"I haven't given that too much thought," Davis said. "I'm sure it will be a little weird at first, but at the end of the day I guess it's the nature of the beast in this business and that's how it goes."

It's never easy to trade a player that has meant so much to a team, much less someone that was your captain, but there's no question that the Red Bulls would not have jettisoned McCarty if they didn't feel that they had someone ready to fill his cleats.

That someone could very well be Davis, who not only has the talent to do the job but also possesses a very important intangible: He learned a lot from McCarty.

Don't forget to follow Pete on Twitter @pschwartzcbsfan. You can also follow @NewYorkRedBulls and Sean Davis at @seanakiradavis