Ian Beckles: Trading Carlton Davis Is No Loss
April 7th, 2024
Don’t cry over Carlton Davis.
Joe really believes the Bucs could draft a corner at No. 26 in this month’s draft.
Look, the Bucs shipped out their best corner, Carlton Davis. In a passing league, dumping your best corner isn’t exactly a slick move unless a team has firm plans to replace him. Yes, Zyon McCollum is scheduled to start in Davis’ place. But Joe isn’t yet sold that McCollum is a shutdown corner.
And for the folks who cried that Davis missed too much time (Gee, how did the Bucs ever shut down Pat Mahomes and win a Super Bowl with Davis?), then explain Jamel Dean’s absences, please.
One guy who isn’t stressed about Davis getting traded is popular local sports radio personality and former Bucs guard Ian Beckles. Speaking on his podcast “In the Trenches,” Beckles thinks losing Davis is a wash.
“Carlton Davis wasn’t good last year,” Beckles began. “Carlton Davis was on the bad end of a lot of very big offensive plays.
“The one that comes to mind is Scotty Miller catching a bomb on him. I think Scotty Miller caught two balls last year. And one of them was on Carlton Davis deep.”
Miller actually caught 11 passes last season. Imagine going from Tom Brady to dismal Desmond Ridder.
“I didn’t think Carlton Davis had a very good year,” Beckles continued. “So Carlton Davis was traded to the Lions. You are also getting rid of a lot of cap space.
“Were they better with Carlton Davis? I’m not sure. Because there were times last year when Carlton Davis was out and the Buccaneers played better defensively. They did. I saw it.”
Joe is a firm believer in Raheem Morris’ famous saying, “I will tolerate you until I can replace you.” Joe isn’t convinced McCollum can lock down No. 1 receivers like Davis did.
That’s why Joe is expecting, at some point in the draft, the Bucs to select a corner.
April 7th, 2024 at 8:07 am
Any Bucs fan who watched the Texans game this year, (some of us were there) pose 0% issue with CD24 not being on this team anymore. Guy never caught interceptions and often gave up 3rd down conversions but would strap his imaginary seatbelt like he was locking someone up. Hell, even the “gimmie”
pick-6 against Atlanta he couldn’t score without screwing it up. Maybe im just bitter. Anyways, Go Bucs!
April 7th, 2024 at 8:27 am
Davis is a loss, but on the $$ vs production it is a win.
April 7th, 2024 at 8:28 am
CD, thank you for the Super Bowl. I just want the team to be good, I don’t care who plays.
April 7th, 2024 at 8:37 am
So happy CD is gone. I couldn’t tolerate him anymore, he needed to go a year earlier.
April 7th, 2024 at 8:46 am
Assuming Dean is healthy, he’s the one who should be tangling with No. 1 WRs, not McCollum. I definitely think we take a CB, but EDGE and IOL are more urgent in round 1.
April 7th, 2024 at 8:47 am
Davis had some good years. I’m glad we were able to get something for him while we still could. It’s tough having both starting corners with terrible hands. Maybe now we can get some INT’s. Also maybe next year trade Dean for a 3rd round pick too. Everything that you can say about Davis applies to Dean also. He is just the teacher’s pet is why Davis went first. Davis is actually stickier in man coverage than Dean
April 7th, 2024 at 8:57 am
2024 was Davis’ worst year. This after he ran his mouth last offseason saying he was gonna “wreck sh!t”….
Carlton was gone next year no matter what for not living up to his pay grade…
Getting a 3rd rd pick was the clincher. Too tempting and Licht did the right thing by pulling the trigger on that trade.
Yes Davis is a good CB – but his availability is not good enough, he left way too many turnovers on the field and he was too expensive to just be a decent CB for only 12 games a year or whatever….
Zyon is ready!
April 7th, 2024 at 9:04 am
I’m not in love with Davis or Dean but, why draft “cover corners”, ask them to play a dreadful, milquetoast, stand-flat-footed defense then, be mad when they perform poorly? Doesn’t the “defensive genius” deserve blame, too?
On the other hand (pun intended), D & D are china dolls who couldn’t catch V.D. in a Dominican brothel.
April 7th, 2024 at 9:09 am
Under no circumstances should the Bucs pick a CB at #26. I hope this is all just GM speak misdirection. Maybe in the 4th rd, but not earlier. I believe a LOT of Bucs fans will be upset if a CB is drafted in the first round.
April 7th, 2024 at 9:10 am
I have always maintained that Dean is soft. Said it over and over here. The reason why they moved Carlton over Dean is simple, Dean would have been a huge cap hit, Davis was not. Dean is soft. He will come out of and not return to at least 6 games and will flat out not dress for 3 more. It was a bad contract when they did it and it’s even worse now being that said player CAN’T STAY ON THE FIELD.
Dean is soft.
April 7th, 2024 at 9:10 am
Zyon’s stats were very similar to CD3, at 10% of the money. Absent the cap, they probably wouldn’t have dealt him, that’s the new reality tho
April 7th, 2024 at 9:13 am
I
April 7th, 2024 at 9:14 am
expect a CB to be drafted, just not in round 1.
Edge, offensive trench please.
April 7th, 2024 at 9:39 am
The Joe writing this article seems to worry about things way too much. Last year it was Tristan Wirf’s move to RT. Now he is all worked up over finding a replacement for Davis. I am not worried because between McCollum, Hall, and Whitehead (who I know is a safety), I believe the defensive backfield will be stronger overall. I’ll trust Bowles’ judgement. The Bucs really need to focus on other needs with our premium draft picks….corner is not one of those needs.
April 7th, 2024 at 9:50 am
Addition through subtraction. Ian nails it again, CD couldn’t stay healthy and his productivity didn’t come close to matching his cap hit. Bucs win by shedding his salary, and the D doesn’t have to worry about his ever constant turf toe. Too bad for he & the Lions he now plays in a dome. Not good for an already brittle player.
April 7th, 2024 at 10:01 am
Davis – turf toe – dome. Yikes! Enjoy Lions!
April 7th, 2024 at 10:03 am
Dean – pillow fight – hurt shoulder. Yeah not too good either.
April 7th, 2024 at 10:04 am
I could see the Bucs taking a CB in the 3rd Round, a year of learning, a replacement for Dean next year, and/or draft another CB in 2025.
April 7th, 2024 at 10:07 am
He was a tough physical press man corner who couldn’t catch the football. He played good football during the Super Bowl run. More recently it appears that his body has begun to break down the past couple of seasons. Outside of jumping one Desmond Ridder pass he made no other impactful plays this past season and was a liability on 3rd down. CDIII certainly talked a big game this past offseason. However, he forgot to show up!
Hope he rights himself in Detroit. Best of luck unless you’re playing the Bucs!
April 7th, 2024 at 10:08 am
Carlton “Puff Daddy” Davis will be replaced by Randy “Snoop Dogg”Gregory as the Bucs designated Stoner playing the Toker Joker position in this High flying defense. The team had to weed out Davis and his cloudy coverage.
April 7th, 2024 at 10:10 am
I think with all these scrambling QB’s now Bowles is trying to adapt by running more zone. The Bucs will start to draft corners to fit the scheme. You notice we have already went to smaller faster D lineman.
April 7th, 2024 at 10:25 am
Beckles sure gets a lot of play here.
April 7th, 2024 at 10:52 am
A decent pass rusher can help a secondary that is not up to par
April 7th, 2024 at 11:28 am
One of the smartest moves in BUcs history.
He has been a liability for the team for the last 2 years…….As a player and financially……
April 7th, 2024 at 11:35 am
I highly doubt bucs draft a cb in the first. I’ve been saying wr for a while now because I think that’s the only position thats going to be worth the 26th pick. Bucs have Evans getting older Chris Godwin I doubt gets resigned and they can get a real playmaker at 26 to have for the the future all part of the rebuild the bucs are doing.
April 7th, 2024 at 12:00 pm
As goes for every defensive back in the league, a lot depends on how much the pos zebras will let you get away with. Holding, illegal contact, shirt grabs, etc. When they call it loose, even marginal DBs look like stars. But it’s also knowing what you can get away with and when. That defines the great ones, because no CBs play clean all of the time. Lattimore bag is the worst. He holds on every play and does it so much, the refs tend to just ignore it.
April 7th, 2024 at 12:14 pm
davis was down-cycling last year, that’s why he’s no longer here…
most of the others were up-cycling…izien, hayes, zyon, winfield…
dean was neither up or down cycling…he was tight roping it…right in the middle…imho
so it will be an interesting year, to see if dean up-cycles or down-cycles – and that might heavily play into whether he’s here or not in 2025…i’m no gm, but it’s one to watch shortly down the road, since he’s our number one corner…
if for some reason we pick a cb relatively early in the draft, then the front office is way ahead, and possibly thinking to unload him as they did with cd3 in the offseason to loosen up the cap (if he has a down year or injury plagued season)
#AyeWholeLottaSundayMorningCornerTalk
April 7th, 2024 at 12:19 pm
Isn’t that a good thing?
April 7th, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Not opposed to a CB in round 1 but I think Hall will be a nice addition that allows us to go BPA in round 1.
April 7th, 2024 at 1:20 pm
The moves by Licht indicate they are going to pick the best player available at a position of need. We have a few holes and CB is not a huge hole like edge but it is a position of need. We need the Licht crew to do their jobs and to find that guy that is an instant starter whether it be at the line, on the edge or in the secondary.
April 7th, 2024 at 1:56 pm
Agree with those above stating bowles asking a very good man corner to play soft zone on third and long. We saw the result over and over again.
April 7th, 2024 at 2:19 pm
Beckles is a good talker and a sound bite. I get he played and he knows more football than most of us, but there are times he sounds like the National Sports media where what he’s saying just doesn’t make sense. I’m not hearing any inside baseball from him, what he sees, we see and comments on it.
Won’t be surprised if Carlton has a bounce back year and balls out. He was damn good for us, but injuries mounted. This is just the way football goes. Players play hurt all the time, we don’t know the extent, and then all of us sudden its a bounce back year. Fact of the matter is Licht had to play for “trade space” and Carlton served as the collateral for that. We needed the cap, we had a serviceable replacement, and a fresh draft on the way. I’ve always felt Dean was more of liability at corner.
April 7th, 2024 at 3:56 pm
I think that mccollum can be a above average cb2 but thats just me thinking out loud
April 7th, 2024 at 4:31 pm
I agree with you on this one Joe! Not sold on McCollum as a full time starter. Better draft one early.
April 7th, 2024 at 5:55 pm
I don’t understand the calls for drafting a Guard or Center in the first round. Teams that draft those guys in the first round are losers. You draft guys that have direct influence on the ball. Edge, LT/RT, WR, TE and QB
April 7th, 2024 at 7:33 pm
As has been said by many, Todd could have five hall of fame DBs and they would still give up 400 yards passing to Taylor’s Heineken in that fantastic cover 3 bust scheme. 3rd and 4? Play 10 yards off coverage.
Might as well pay the minimum back there. Even Deion Sanders in his prime would be neutered under Todd.
April 7th, 2024 at 7:42 pm
Cartlon Davis was the one corner we had that could man up vs bigs. More often than not he did well against Michael Thomas, Devante Adams, etc. Good luck in Detroit, CD. Don’t magically learn how to catch interceptions up there and I think the Bucs will adapt to this loss in a yr or 2.
April 7th, 2024 at 8:04 pm
Dean and Davis were serviceable for where they were picked, and its time to move on. I liked Davis, but he hasnt played well, and I still dont understand if he struggled in a zone scheme, or got toasted in man. Definitely grabbing a corner in first 3 rounds.
April 8th, 2024 at 12:14 am
Too many big plays given up by any Bucs db not named Winfield last season. That also is because they couldn’t get any pressure whatsoever without blitzing. HOWEVER, that doesn’t matter if they have the worst IOL in the league again. Ugh, what to do?!?