New Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis has a fresh three-year, $60 million contract in New England and memories of half-assed practicing as a young player.
Joe’s not slapping around Davis here, but Joe always is interested in nuggets that could tie to Bucs history and the malaise of The Lost Decade of Buccaneers football (2009-2018).
Before Davis became the Bucs’ No. 1 cornerback for their Super Bowl glory in the 2020 season, he was a Tampa Bay rookie in 2018. That was a sad team that opened its season with a backup quarterback because the lead guy was serving a three-game sentence for groping an Uber driver in a fast food drive-thru lane.
Man, things have improved a lot at One Buc Palace. Hallelujah!
During a recent visit to Patriots Unfiltered, Davis said that as a young player it took him a while to realize how critical practice is.
Was he talking about his rookie year in Tampa playing with Brent “You Don’t Pay Me Enough To Cover Antonio Brown” Grimes? That’s unclear. But in the context of the conversation, it sure seemed like Davis was talking about his early NFL days.
“You know, when I was younger, I didn’t appreciate practice as much and I didn’t, like, understand how important it was until I had times where I would BS in practice and try to cut it on in a game. And it does not work,” Davis said. “Like you can’t do it, like even if you tell yourself mentally I’m going to do this. You’ll get in a game and you’ll just kind of freeze up.”
Pretty stunning to hear a Super Bowl cornerback and the Bucs’ former No. 1 guy talk about dogging it as a young player. At what level of football did Davis fail to learn practice is critical?
That’s why Joe thinks Davis was referring to his rookie year with the Bucs. Davis probably got by, in part, on talent as a college player and realized too late in his rookie Bucs year that practice is key to NFL success.
There’s been so much talk in recent years about the Bucs’ incredible culture that is all about work ethic, winning and good citizenship. Joe suspects whatever Davis tried to get away with as a 2018 rookie wouldn’t fly for a rookie on Todd Bowles’ Bucs. It would be snuffed out fast in spring practices.
