Vernon Davis says he didn't have altercation with Joe Staley

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis denied a report that he and left tackle Joe Staley had a verbal altercation in the locker room over quarterback Colin Kaepernick in a team meeting earlier this month.

"No, I didn't call Kap out," Davis said Thursday. "I don't know where you got that from. I didn't call Kap out at all. It's not my job, my role to call Kap out; I let the coaches do that.

"We're all together. There's nothing that can separate any of us. We're inseparable, I would think. Me, Kap, Joe, we're all on the same page. We're captains. We're leaders of the team, so we have to stay together in order to make things happen, and we rely on each other.

"If we do say anything to each other, it's going to be out of respect and it's going to be done properly. It's not going to be done in a way where someone might get upset and then he's ready to fight. It's not going to be done like that."

First-year coach Jim Tomsula called a team meeting the Tuesday after the loss to the Green Bay Packers that he likened to a loud "Italian dining room table" where "dishes get broken, people leave [then] everybody's got to come back to the table to eat. And when it's all said and done, there's hugging and kissing and we're eating good food again, OK?"

Tomsula, talking to radio station KNBR, said he then turned the proceedings over to the players.

And that's when, CSN Bay Area reported, Davis called out Kaepernick and Staley jumped to his defense as "the exchange became heated and may have even gotten physical," per the report.

"I don't recall that," Davis said. "I don't know where that's coming from. That's funny to me, if you ask me. It's funny."

Davis is in his 10th season with the 49ers, and Staley, who was not available during the open locker room period Thursday, is in his ninth season.

"He's like a brother to me," Davis said. "We've argued in the past. My first year we came here we got into it and then seconds later we were hanging out, drinking sodas together. But me and Joe, if anything happens with me and Joe, we're going to be brothers. It doesn't matter.

"But I can't recall us getting into something where he was mad at me, I was mad at him. I've never been mad at Joe. Ever. Maybe upset ... I love him. I think he's awesome."

The Niners, at 2-5 and in last place in the NFC West, have a game at the St. Louis Rams this weekend.

"There's no turmoil among us, thank God," Davis said.