In his 11 seasons in Green Bay, Davis played in 167 consecutive games, the third longest streak in Packers history.

It had to happen sooner or later. We knew he wasn’t going to play forever. Yet, as much as we tried to prepare ourselves for the day he finally called it quits, we knew we would never be fully prepared.

Even now that it’s official, it’s still hard to believe. It’s hard not to think that maybe we took him for granted while he was around. He was always just sort of there, ready to play, every Sunday. For some Packer fans, he’s the only player they’ve ever known in his position.

Now it’s over, and we must go on. An aging hero will be replaced by some eager young kid, and they’ll continue playing games, strange as it may be without him. The last remaining link to the Super Bowl days is gone, but he certainly won’t be forgotten.

Thanks for the memories, Rob Davis.

What? Were you expecting someone else?

After 11 years as the Packers long snapper, and 12 NFL seasons in all, Davis announced his retirement on Wednesday.

Maybe ESPN won’t devote a full day (or week) of coverage to remember his career. Maybe Sports Illustrated won’t print a special edition commemorating his contributions to the league. Maybe he won’t even hold a tearful press conference to say goodbye. But one thing is for sure—Rob Davis was a true professional and is deserving of all the preceding accolades that a certain other Packers legend received. Well, maybe a press conference at least.

In his 11 seasons in Green Bay, Davis played in 167 consecutive games, the third longest streak in Packers history behind only Forest Gregg’s 187 and Brett Favre’s 255. Favre, coincidentally, also retired earlier this off-season, if you’ve yet to hear of that.

In his first season as a Packer, Davis was a member of the club that made it to the Super Bowl, and was the last remaining player on the roster to have played in a Super Bowl for the Green and Gold.

In lieu of a ceremony to retire his number 60, Davis will instead transition into the Packers front office, where Ted Thompson has appointed him director of player development. Made-up front office titles aside, Davis’ retirement as a player has an impact on a much larger scale.

With his retirement, along with the retirement of Favre and, of course, the free agent loss of Packer great Frank Walker, a changing of the guards is taking place within the Packers organization. Any and all links to the glory days are broken. It is now up to the new crop of players to etch their own names in stone and create their own legacy. Thomas Gafford will likely replace Davis as long snapper, as Aaron Rodgers will replace Favre at quarterback. Unfortunately, Frank Walker is impossible to replace, but you get the point.

Still, before moving on to the next era of Packers football, Rob Davis deserves to be honored for the loyalty, commitment and leadership he showed in his 11 years in Green Bay.

As we do with all of our legendary players when they finally move on, let’s hope we see Davis in Wrangler jean commercials for years to come.

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