Carlton Davis Will Be A Wanted Man
February 25th, 2022
Carlton Davis fan.
Bucs cornerback Carlton Davis is in an interesting spot. Too interesting for the Bucs.
Is Davis a top-five lockdown corner? Maybe; maybe not. But he’s close. And someone tell Joe the last time the best cornerback on a Super Bowl-winning team who just turned 25 actually hit the open market some 13 months after making confetti angels.
However, is David good enough to warrant top-five cash? That’s the trick. Davis is good, but is he that good?
Davis has yet to play a full season due to injuries. So he had a down year as a result in 2021. But cornerbacks are just behind quarterbacks and pass rushers on the open market; if one gets free, there is often a landrush to sign him. Perhaps the only positions more important in a passing league are quarterback and linemen.
NFL Network numbers queen Cynthia Frelund discussed Davis and his pending free agency this afternoon. And Frelund basically said if the Bucs don’t pay him, there will be a line of suitors with open checkbooks ready. In short, Frelund said Davis has leverage.
“A solid season after another solid season last year,” Frelund said, making her case that David has shown enough to demonstrate he’s not a one-year wonder. Frelund noted Davis was third among all free agent corners with 12 forced incompletions. This despite missing seven games.
Frelund also noted that you can tell a cornerback’s value by who the defensive coordinator puts him up against. Davis, she said, often was assigned to square up on opponents’ top receivers.
“Todd Bowles trusted [Davis],” Frelund said. “And the math supported it.”
This means Davis will get paid next month when the free agency dinner bell rings on March 16. By who remains to be seen.
If the Bucs do keep Davis, does that mean the Bucs wave goodbye to Ryan Jensen? Lots of difficult decisions coming from Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht.
February 25th, 2022 at 3:53 pm
If the Bucs franchise anyone, it will be Carlton Davis.
He’s exceptional (especially when he keeps his helmet on).
February 25th, 2022 at 3:54 pm
he’ll get tagged
February 25th, 2022 at 3:55 pm
I’d keep Davis over Jensen…….Davis is younger & we really don’t have a replacement for him as we do Jensen(Hainsey)…….but Davis will cost more.
Both players will want a long-term contract…..hopefully Licht will be able to be creative with Davis’ contract.
With either player lost…we should receive a comp pick.
I’d say, regardless….we need to select a CB in rounds 1 or 2….
February 25th, 2022 at 4:03 pm
What a lucky time to be a FA DB. He’ll probably be way over paid. It has more to do with timing than anything else. Let him test the market, and come back with a number. The draft is loaded at corner this year. If the number is above 15 million per, draft a replacement
February 25th, 2022 at 4:19 pm
You should tag him and trade him… we can’t afford all of these luxuries and you might be able to draft a corner and lineman with those picks. If we let too many players walk for comp picks you run the risk of needing to sign other free agents to replace them and never seeing those picks.
February 25th, 2022 at 4:30 pm
Posey99 … ‘He’ll get tagged’. Gut feel is that the Bucs learned their lesson with Godwin; if there’s any way in the world to avoid it, don’t tag someone you want to keep long term. It’s just as expensive to franchise tag them as it would be to sign them to a long-term contract; actually MORE expensive to tag them because you’ll pay more in following years (like we’ll be doing with Chris), and you can’t slide any of the money into future years (you eat it all in the franchise year). Not to mention that most players probably really dislike the franchise tag (means that they have to have 2 really good years back-to-back, and injuries MAY preclude that?).
I think we’ll make Davis a decent offer (say $10 mil or so), but he’ll opt to test the FA waters. Can’t blame him. And someone will sign him.
February 25th, 2022 at 4:57 pm
Godwin and Davis are the 2 essentials. I expect Davis to get tagged.
After that Im hoping we can find a way to keep Whitehead and Suh along with Gholston and Cappa(or Stinne if they prefer).
February 25th, 2022 at 5:09 pm
Transition tag is less, then you have the option to match the deal, if Ben’s CTE filled brain is remembering correctly
February 25th, 2022 at 5:13 pm
Davis will probably be tagged and 10 mil a year is laughable for him he would never sign for that nor should he.
February 25th, 2022 at 5:40 pm
$10-million a year? You people are nuts and don’t know the market. A top corner gets like $15-million a year. If the Bucs can get him for $10m, then it’s a no-brainer to keep him, but he’s going to get a lot more than that.
February 25th, 2022 at 6:32 pm
When the Bucs lost Brady they lost the glue that kept the team intact and lured quality players to join up. Free agents will take a little less to join a team with strong SB potential. Losing Brady diminished the Bucs free agent appeal and hurt their chances to hold onto their own free agents too. Going to be a difficult year for Licht.
February 25th, 2022 at 6:54 pm
Sell him to the highest bidder, maybe Licht can get extra for the gold teeth.
February 25th, 2022 at 7:16 pm
Perhaps the only positions more important in a passing league are quarterback and linemen.
___________
WR?
Kind of important too dontcha think?
February 25th, 2022 at 7:28 pm
Draft CB on Day 2 to replace him.
February 25th, 2022 at 7:51 pm
This dude is nowhere close to shutdown farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr away let’s be serious he blows coverage and gets burned at least twice a game in both categories. He’s so trash can’t stay healthy bites on every double move, speed destroys him, injured on almost every tackle that shoulder is dead. Flat footed asl. Been in this system for 4 years and doesn’t have it down packed. Hasn’t progressed at all to me since he’s been drafted 🤷🏾♂️
February 25th, 2022 at 8:04 pm
Mr Munch … ‘$10-million a year? You people are nuts and don’t know the market. A top corner gets like $15-million a year.’
Au contraire, am well aware of what Davis’ Market Value is.
Spotrac lists it at $19.6 mil based on a 5-yr contract for $98.4 mil (and ranks Carlton at CB #2). Not buying it.
My belief is that a CB with less than 80% availability over his 4 yrs here isn’t worth anywhere near that. I consider Davis to be a very good CB BTW, but no place close to a $20 mil man. My point was … offer him half of that, but expect that he’ll test the waters. Someone with a LOT more cash than us will sign him. I’d much rather sign someone like Marcus Peters for say that $10 mil AND draft a CB in Rnd 1 or 2 (at the latest) as our future.
CBs like Marcus Peters or Chavarius Ward have just as good results as Davis did, but have a Market Value of only half of his. Folks are putting Davis in the same category as Jalen Ramsey, Marshon Lattimore, Marion Humphrey and Tre’Davious White. All are $20 mil players. Sorry, not seeing it in Carlton’s case. Availability counts. So does not getting burnt (Davis has allowed 20 TDs in 4 yrs; so has Lattimore … Humphrey & White are both half of that).
February 25th, 2022 at 8:07 pm
Davis is good, but injury prone and in no way worth 15 or more per year. Let someone else overpay for him.
February 25th, 2022 at 10:05 pm
Licht likes to draft bump and run DBs. Then our coaches want them to play zone.
Davis is the first pf those to understand that. He could be a leader for the Bucs, an on field Sherman. 14 nil sounds good
February 25th, 2022 at 10:27 pm
I agree with DR. Davis is good, but not great/excellent, and he spends a LOT of time in the tub.
Good thing about the Bucs management and capologists: rarely will they overpay a player. They will not overpay Davis, but maybe somebody else will.
February 26th, 2022 at 8:15 am
I’m just not as high on CD as most people. Yes, he’s the best CB the Bucs have but thats not saying much. He’s not worth anywhere close to what he thinks he is. Plus he seems to be injury prone. If he doesn’t want to sign for a reasonable amount, let him walk & draft a CB #1