At the age of 27, Carlton Davis III has never felt so old. That's what rookies will do to you. He could hardly wrap his head around it when Terrion Arnold said he was born in 2003: "I'm just like, where has the time gone?" Davis laughed. "I was active in 2003! I was doing stuff! I remember it -- vividly." In Detroit, Davis might also feel young again.
"I haven’t been this excited since 2020 when we went and won the Super Bowl (in Tampa Bay)," he said. "So much talent on this team."
Talent abounds in the Lions' revamped cornerbacks room. Davis is the headliner of the newcomers, and he'll tell you as much. Wearing the No. 23 that used to belong to Darius Slay, the last No. 1 corner in Detroit, Davis let it be known Thursday after the Lions' third practice of OTA's that "I'm about to just lock sh*t up, excuse my French. I’m about to lock No. 1 receivers up, get my hands on some balls, get the ball back to our offense and play physical. And bring the energy."
"You’ll see," he added with a smile. "You’ll see."
The Lions would love to. They traded for Davis after getting torched in the air last season, then took Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw with their first two picks in the draft. They also brought in Amik Robertson and brought back Emmanuel Moseley, turning the most glaring weakness of their roster into a strength. (On paper, anyway. On the field, Arnold and Rakestraw are recovering from minor injuries.) Davis alone will make them better.
Under Aaron Glenn, Detroit's defense wants to play in your face. A former cornerback himself, Glenn isn't one to "sit back and allow the quarterback to dink and dunk." Not in the NFL, as he said Thursday. He'd rather "smother the offense" with man coverage and blitzes, which isn't something the Lions have had the personnel to execute in the past. When they blitzed last season, their corners were often exposed. They allowed the most air yards in the NFL.
Davis has always excelled in man coverage . He's 6'1 with long arms and a strong frame. He already sees himself in his new defensive coordinator, the way Glenn wants to attack everything in front of him: "You really feel he's in the play with you," Davis said. If that were actually the case, Glenn would be opposite Davis, in the grill of an opposing receiver.
"That’s what I love," said Davis. "That’s his identity and that’s my identity. Since I came in the league, I’m a man-to-man corner. I like to go up there, press you and lock you down, and he loves that, too. So we could be the best of friends, honestly."
It hasn't taken Davis long to strike up a friendship with Arnold, the 24th pick in the draft. "T.A.," said Davis, "is just so loud. He has that good spirit." In other words, that confidence that every good cornerback needs. Rakestraw is on the quieter side, but has "dawg exuding out of him, in the words of Brad Holmes . Arnold has already caught Davis' eye with his fluidity when he's been on the field, which only makes Davis more eager to play the role of mentor.
"I love teaching," he said. "I love giving the knowledge that I have. I can’t keep it forever, I might as well pass it along. And I would love just to see him grow as a player, man. He’s got so much talent. He hasn’t been out there too much, but you can just tell by him moving around and his charisma and his confidence that he has the tools to be a great player, so I want to help him reach that goal."
This is year seven for Davis in the NFL. In his, well, younger days, he didn't think much of the Lions after the Buccaneers smacked them in Detroit in back to back seasons. Davis remembers being on the bench with the rest of the starters by the third quarter of both games, inside a lifeless stadium. (Combined score: 85-24. The second of those games did come in a literally empty Ford Field during the COVID season.)
He thinks much differently of them now. The Lions beat the Bucs in Tampa last season propelled by a horde of invading fans, then knocked them out of the playoffs in Detroit where the home crowd was so "crazy" that even Davis said he "was a little nerve-wracked."
"Both times, you could tell it was a different Detroit team," he said. "And that’s something to really be excited about, knowing that this team has longed for a Super Bowl and we have the chance to do it this year."
The Lions are one of the clear-cut favorites in the NFC, after falling just short last season in San Fran. Who knows how much further they could have gone with a player like Davis in their secondary. He's here to help everyone find out, and to help a couple rookie corners find their footing. Asked about wearing 23 in Detroit, Davis said 24 was already spoken for. He winked and added, "I'm gonna make a name for it either way."
Like the digits on his back, age is just a number.
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