Vernon Davis took one of the most famous hits in NFL history, and he now says his first thought was not about the man who delivered it. The former 49ers tight end went on Uninterrupted Weekly and was asked about the hit from Kam Chancellor, when catching a pass from Colin Kaepernick.

“When I got up, I just wanted to kill Colin Kaepernick. That’s what I wanted to do. I wasn’t worried about Kam Chancellor; I wanted to go after Colin Kaepernick.” Davis said on the podcast. He replied in the affirmative when asked if the former QB had thrown him a hospital ball, i.e., a badly planned throw that puts the pass-catcher at risk.

In Week 16 of the 2012 season, on Dec. 23, the 49ers visited Seattle on Sunday night and lost 42-13. Late in the first quarter, Kaepernick threw to Davis, who was open along the right sideline.

Kam Chancellor closed in fast, hit Davis just after he caught the ball, knocking it loose. He ended up suffering a concussion and left the game.

Chancellor was flagged for unnecessary roughness, and a penalty of 10 yards was awarded to the Niners. Seattle then blocked a 49ers field goal at the end of that drive, who took it for a touchdown.

Chancellor did not seem to blame himself for the hit on Davis in that game.

“As defensive backs, we said it’s going to start with us in the back, coming out there being physical and just setting the tone,” Chancellor said. “I think we set the tone today.”

Kaepernick was the man who threw it, and that is where Davis aimed his frustration. He said the hit itself was not what bothered him most.

“It wasn’t even the hit that bothered me; it was more of the whiplash. The hit, it didn’t hurt.”

He said it was the jolt of his head that stuck with him. He also described what happened after. Davis said he never made it to the sideline and went straight to the locker room.

The injury did a number on him. In an appearance for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington in 2017, Davis said he “lost [his] memory a little bit.”

“I just didn’t know what happened. I was like, ‘Wow I just got hit by a very big man.’ He hit me hard. You know what somebody told me? He said, ‘Shake it off. It’s all right. Shake it off.’ I’m like, ‘I can’t remember anything. You tell me to shake it off? Why don’t you go shake it off, buddy?’ That was quite a hit,” he narrated, presumably to make the kids laugh.

The Seahawks had a very different view of the hit. Head coach Pete Carroll said:

“That hit on the sidelines was so vicious that they just had to throw the flag; something must be wrong; you can’t hit somebody that hard. But as it turned out, you look at it and you go, ‘What’s the problem?’ So we’ll find out from the league what they think.”

Carroll also said he would love for the play to be “emblematic of what is legal.” Chancellor said officials told him he illegally lunged at Davis, though replays seemed to show a shoulder-to-chest hit. The NFL did not fine him for it.

Chancellor went on to help Seattle win Super Bowl XLVIII, 43-8 over the Denver Broncos. He made four Pro Bowls. His career ended after a neck injury in 2017, and Seattle terminated his contract in 2019 after he failed a physical.

Vernon Davis was already a veteran when Colin Kaepernick was drafted by the 49ers. But he continued to have a great rapport with him on the field. In the 2012 season, Kaepernick’s first as a full-time starter, Davis was second among pass-catchers with 548 yards. Davis was with the team midway through the 2015 season when he was traded to the Denver Broncos. The next season, he suited up for Washington.

After the hit, Davis came back to play in the Arizona Cardinals game the following week, in which he only caught for five yards. However, he was healthy by the time the postseason rolled in, recording 254 receiving yards and one touchdown.

The injury, thankfully, didn’t affect Vernon Davis a lot. Or else, he might be seeing Colin Kaepernick in a completely different light.