Player
Carlton Davis III
CB - Patriots
Career production maps the trajectory — 2020 was the peak, but Davis has remained a consistent double-digit PD corner through every stop.
TB to DET to NE: eight seasons, three franchises, and a coverage profile that keeps producing.
TrendDavis regular-season production by year
| Year | Team | G | Tackles | Assists | PDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | TB | 13 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 2019 | TB | 14 | 52 | 6 | 19 | 1 |
| 2020 | TB | 14 | 50 | 16 | 18 | 5 |
| 2021 | TB | 10 | 31 | 6 | 11 | 2 |
| 2022 | TB | 13 | 46 | 12 | 12 | 1 |
| 2023 | TB | 12 | 37 | 12 | 9 | 2 |
| 2024 | DET | 12 | 40 | 14 | 11 | 2 |
| 2025 | NE | 16 | 38 | 30 | 10 | 1 |
Passes defensed by season
| Season | PDs |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2019 | 19 |
| 2020 | 18 |
| 2021 | 11 |
| 2022 | 12 |
| 2023 | 9 |
| 2024 | 11 |
| 2025 | 10 |
Six seasons in Tampa, one in Detroit, now starting all 16 in New England. The volume year was 2020 (18 PDs, 5 INTs on a Super Bowl winner). After that the targets dropped, receivers stopped throwing at him, and his per-game PD numbers flattened into the 0.75-1.10 band where he has lived ever since.
The 2025 detail that jumps out: 30 assist-tackles in 16 games in New England, by far his career high. He's playing more zone, finishing tackles in run support that he used to leave for linebackers.
Why it matters. Career production maps the trajectory — 2020 was the peak, but Davis has remained a consistent double-digit PD corner through every stop.
Only Denzel Ward has more 9-plus PD seasons since 2018. Carlton Davis has seven.
RareCBs with most 9-plus PD seasons, 2018-2025
| Player | 9+ PD Seasons | Total PDs | Total INTs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denzel Ward | 8 | 104 | 22 |
| Carlton Davis III | 7 | 94 | 14 |
| James Bradberry | 6 | 92 | 19 |
| Marlon Humphrey | 6 | 93 | 22 |
| Rasul Douglas | 6 | 81 | 21 |
| Darius Slay | 6 | 90 | 16 |
| Xavien Howard | 5 | 76 | 27 |
| Pat Surtain II | 5 | 56 | 11 |
Seven of eight seasons with 9 or more passes defensed. The only miss was his rookie year (4 PDs in 2018), before he settled into a full-time boundary role. Since 2019 he has hit the mark every single season, across three defensive coordinators in Tampa, Aaron Glenn's blitz-heavy Detroit scheme, and now Bill Belichick's disciple Mike Vrabel in New England.
Denzel Ward is the only corner in the same tier (8-for-8). The next tier — Bradberry, Humphrey, Slay — has all missed two seasons apiece. Davis's floor is as reliable as his ceiling.
Why it matters. Sustaining elite pass-defense volume across eight seasons and three teams puts Davis in rare company — he hasn't had a down year since his rookie season.
Top 5 in passes defensed among all DBs since 2018 - more than Marshon Lattimore, Jalen Ramsey, or Stephon Gilmore.
ComparisonPD leaders among DBs, 2018-2025 regular season
| Player | PDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|
| Denzel Ward | 104 | 22 |
| Carlton Davis III | 94 | 14 |
| Marlon Humphrey | 93 | 22 |
| James Bradberry | 92 | 19 |
| Darius Slay | 90 | 16 |
| Jalen Ramsey | 85 | 21 |
| Marshon Lattimore | 80 | 11 |
94 career PDs since 2018, second only to Denzel Ward. That puts him ahead of Slay, Ramsey, Humphrey, Lattimore - the entire All-Pro-era CB list.
The gap is the INT total. Ward and Humphrey converted their PDs into picks at a much higher rate (22 each). Davis's ball-skill profile is more bat-down than ball-hawk: he gets there, but he isn't squeezing the catch point the way the Pro Bowlers do. It's the single thing that keeps him out of the All-Pro conversation.
Why it matters. Second in career PD volume among all corners since 2018 shows Davis has been one of football's most consistently tested — and most disruptive — cover corners of his era.
The 2020 season: 18 PDs and 5 INTs in 14 games on a Super Bowl champion.
MilestoneDavis 2020 vs his other seasons
| Year | G | PDs | INTs | PD/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 14 | 18 | 5 | 1.29 |
| 2019 | 14 | 19 | 1 | 1.36 |
| 2022 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 0.92 |
| 2021 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 1.10 |
| 2024 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 0.92 |
| 2025 | 16 | 10 | 1 | 0.63 |
One season with 5 INTs, seven other seasons with 2 or fewer. The 2020 INT spike is the outlier - the rest of his career is high-PD, low-INT consistency.
The encouraging part: the rate has held up through the team changes. 2019 (TB): 1.36 PDs/game. 2024 (DET): 0.92. 2025 (NE) over a full 16: 0.63. A slight decline at age 28, but he's still tracking with the deep cohort of post-prime starting CBs.
Why it matters. Davis's 2020 stands as the rare season where a high-PD corner combined volume with interceptions — something he has not replicated in any of his seven other seasons.
The Detroit pit-stop made him an interception threat again.
SplitINT splits by stop
| Stop | Seasons | G | INTs | INT/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa Bay (2018-23) | 6 | 76 | 11 | 0.145 |
| Detroit (2024) | 1 | 12 | 2 | 0.167 |
| New England (2025) | 1 | 16 | 1 | 0.063 |
In Tampa under three different coordinators he averaged 0.145 INTs per game. In Aaron Glenn's Detroit defense in 2024 - the season the Lions led the NFC in takeaways - that rate ticked up to 0.17, even in just 12 starts.
The 2025 NE number (1 INT in 16 games) is a regression toward the bat-down version of him. Different scheme, different supporting cast, different quarterback diet. Detroit's blitz-heavy approach put receivers in jump-ball spots; New England's coverage shells are softer.
Why it matters. Davis's INT rate nearly doubled in Detroit, signaling the scheme mattered as much as the player — a data point that makes his 2025 regression to 1 INT in 16 games meaningful.
His 2025 assist total is the highest of his career - by a lot.
AnomalyCareer assist tackles by season
| Year | Team | G | Solo | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | TB | 13 | 36 | 4 |
| 2019 | TB | 14 | 52 | 6 |
| 2020 | TB | 14 | 50 | 16 |
| 2021 | TB | 10 | 31 | 6 |
| 2022 | TB | 13 | 46 | 12 |
| 2023 | TB | 12 | 37 | 12 |
| 2024 | DET | 12 | 40 | 14 |
| 2025 | NE | 16 | 38 | 30 |
30 assists in a single season. His previous high was 16 in 2020. The other six seasons combined for 54.
This is a fingerprint of how Mike Vrabel's defense is using him: more zone snaps, more match coverage, more situations where he's the second man to the ball in run fits and screen support. He's not erasing receivers anymore - he's playing complementary corner. At 28 going on 29, that's the role that extends careers.
Why it matters. 30 assists in a single season is a fingerprint of schematic usage — Davis is no longer purely an eraser-corner; he's a zone-fit corner who shows up at the ball.
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