Why Carlton Davis will finally allow Detroit Lions defense to be itself

Dan Campbell explained how Carlton Davis’ addition will allow the Lions defense to finally play like how it wants to.

The Detroit Lions have spent the last three years trying to figure out their cornerback situation. They’ve gone through players like Jeff Okudah, Quinton Dunbar, Cameron Sutton, Mike Hughes, and Emmanuel Moseley—among many others—looking for a cornerback who is capable of being a No. 1 and lockdown defender.

This offseason, they got a little more aggressive, trading a third-round pick for former Buccaneers top corner Carlton Davis and a pair of late-round picks in return. With Davis, the Lions believe they have a shutdown cornerback who will unlock the Aaron Glenn’s defensive scheme in ways their past corners were never able to.

“There are just things he can do where he can take his side of the field away, at times,” coach Dan Campbell said. “Just to have some of that, man, goes a long way for the rest of the defense, and what (Aaron Glenn) is going to be able to call. Man, that’s going to help. And that’s really something we felt we haven’t had here since we’ve been here.”

Campbell is well aware of what Davis can do on the field. He saw the young cornerback, for years, terrorize the NFC South when Campbell was coaching for the Saints. And when the Lions played the Buccaneers twice last season, Davis was a player the offense actively avoided.

“We didn’t really want to throw at him,” Campbell said. “We knew he was a good cover guy, and he’ll tackle on the perimeter.”

In those two games, Jared Goff targeted Davis just nine times, completing five passes for only 29 yards and one pass defensed, good for a passer rating of just 61.8.

So what exactly does Davis’ lockdown presence open up for the defense? In particular, it allows Glenn to call more man-coverage—something he’s preferred to do in all three seasons in Detroit, but has had to shy away from, at times, due to personnel. Campbell explained how man-coverage is a core piece of what they want to do defensively, and why Davis will help.

“We want to vary the scheme,” Campbell said. “We don’t want anybody to have a beat on what we’re doing defensively. But there comes a time when you want to pressure and you want to play man-to-man and know that you can do it. And to be able to have that ability now…

“What’s funny is there are a lot of times where it really helps. Well, certainly, third down you want to play some man-to-man and get off the field, but also on base downs. A lot of times, you would love to be able to say, ‘You know what, we’re going to play man this series,’ or ‘We’re going to play man this opening drive’ and feel confident about being able to do it, especially if you’re going against tendencies that you’ve done.

“Being able to play man is no different than being able to run the football or stop the run. It’s kind of one of our core values to be a good team. You want to be able to play man when called upon. So, yeah, this certainly will give AG more flexibility in what to call, I believe.”

Free agent signing Amik Robertson figures to be part of that plan. Though he’s just 5-foot-8, Campbell, too, noted his skill at man coverage. With Cameron Sutton now released, Robertson is in line to compete for a starting job with Emmanuel Moseley.

“This guy plays like a big corner,” Campbell said. “He’s aggressive, he’s competitive, he’s got good man-cover skills, and he’s smart. He’s a ball guy, you know? He’s a football player.”

The Lions pass defense has struggled in their first three years under Campbell and Glenn. They’ve finished 30th, 30th and 25th in dropback EPA in each of the last seasons, respectively. But in the final couple months of the season, they finally showed some serious disruption—notching 14 turnovers over the last nine games (including playoffs). The main reasoning, according to Aidan Hutchinson? Reverting back to Glenn’s wheelhouse: more blitzing with man coverage behind it.

“I was talking to AG and I feel like he was saying he got away from himself a little bit (early in the season),” Hutchinson said in an interview with The Athletic last month. “He got away from himself. His identity is blitzing. His identity is being aggressive, applying that pressure.”

But the Lions ran into a problem down that stretch: their cornerbacks weren’t holding up in coverage. The duo of Sutton and Kindle Vildor were constantly losing their one-on-ones. So while Detroit was getting disruptive plays on defense, they were also absolutely gashed by big plays. Over the last seven games of the regular season, the Lions gave up 38 passing plays of 20+ yards—nine more than any other team over that stretch.

The Lions are banking on Davis shutting that down. Not only will they trust him to take care of the opponent’s top receivers, but his ability to shut down an entire side will also allow them to mix up coverage on the opposite end of the field.

“Your ability to tilt from him a little bit at times and just say, ‘Hey, you’ve got this side of the field’ or ‘you’ve got this player,’” Campbell said. “And now we can—Kerby (Joseph) and Iffy (Ifeatu Melifonwu)—and we can kind of move them a little bit more the other way and help out the middle of the defense, or even on the other side. So it just gives AG more flexibility in his calls is what it does.”