page_title: Cotton Davidson
section_title: Professional career
hierarchical_section_title: Cotton Davidson / Professional career
caption_attribution_description: English: An American football game between the 1952 Houston Cougars and the Baylor Bears at Rice Stadium in Houston. Pictured are Houston's M. "Buddy" Gillioz (#77), J.D. Kimmel (#78), and Roland Johnson (#80), and Baylor's "Cotton" Davidson (#19).
context_page_description: Francis Marion "Cotton" Davidson is a former American football quarterback and punter.
context_section_description: Davidson was selected in the first round of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts.  In addition to playing quarterback, he also was a placekicker and punter.  An original Dallas Texan, Davidson was the first starting quarterback for the franchise.
  On July 2, 1962, the Texans signed Len Dawson, thus ending his career as the Dallas quarterback. After the 1962 season opener, he was traded to the Oakland Raiders for the first overall selection in the 1963 American Football League Draft, which was used by the Chiefs to select future Hall of Famer Buck Buchanan. Just two weeks later, Davidson started at quarterback in his first game with the Raiders. Playing against his former team, he threw for 248 yards and rushed for a touchdown in a 26-16 loss to the Texans.
  The high moments of his career were being selected to the American Football League All-Star Game twice: in 1961 and in 1963. He was honored as the MVP of the 1961 AFL All-Star Game while with the Texans.
  Davidson finished with an all-time record of 19-33-1 as a starter.
caption: Davidson (#19) as quarterback for Baylor against Houston in 1952.
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