When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded Carlton Davis III back in March it was viewed as a fresh start for both sides.
While Davis was an OG Grave Digger who helped the team win a Super Bowl back in 2020, his production had fallen rather sharply off a cliff in the years since. He missed 16 games over the last three season due to injuries and didn't seem to be the same guy he had been, which prompted the Bucs to cut bait and give him a chance to rediscover himself in a great Detroit Lions defense.
That hasn't happened, as Davis is off to a rough start to his Lions career and the Bucs are looking like geniuses for moving on when they did.
Carlton Davis III is off to a rough start with the Detroit Lions
Through the first three games of the season, Davis has given up 224 yards and has allowed a 136.2 passer rating while successfully defending just four passes. Keep in mind that Matthew Stafford, Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray threw his way a combined 22 times which indicates offenses are not particularly afraid of him shutting down a side of the field.
Baker and Stafford carving him up is at least understandable given that they're top-tier quarterbacks in the NFL, but Kyler Murray attacking him with as much ease as he did last Sunday is pretty damning. It's not the Kyler isn't a top quarterback, it's that he hasn't played that way in a few years but against Davis he found success to the tune of 53 yards and a touchdown.
That score came against Marvin Harrison Jr., which as established another theme for Davis III this season. When matched up against star receivers he tends to get cooked as Cooper Kupp also scored a touchdown on him that ended up being rather important.
dare we say ~aura~ pic.twitter.com/LNUGuiY5Jy
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) September 22, 2024
Detroit won both games where Davis gave up a touchdown, but the nuance of his performance is what matters. Against the Rams, he had a chance to potentially seal a victory in regulation but dropped an interception. Not only that, but he came up lame on the play and needed to leave with an injury.
Earlier in that game, he got roasted by Tyler Johnson who juked him into another dimension before running 60 yards to set up a score.
Those don't show up on the box score but they help illustrate part of the reason Buccaneers fans grew so frustrated with him over the last few years. Davis III can be a top cornerback in the league, but he's hardly played like it and the worst part of his game tends to flare up at the worst possible moments.
Remember last season when Brandon Aiyuk cooked him on a long touchdown pass, a play where Davis III came up injured? Those moments were far too frequent with him and it's why the Bucs traded him to hopefully help him figure things out. So far it seems he hasn't yet done that, which is a bummer considering how much talent fans in Tampa Bay knows he has buried somewhere within him.
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