One of the first moves the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made this offseason was trading away a starting player.
It was a bit surprising at the time, especially considering the overall theme of trying to retain as much top talent as possible. Carlton Davis III didn’t fall into that category for the Bucs, though, and he was traded to the Detroit Lions for a third round pick.
Flipping Davis did three things: Tampa Bay cleared some cap space, landed another Top 100 draft pick this year, and freed up a spot on the depth chart for someone to potentially step up.
Who that ends up being is yet to be seen, but it was clear that the best decision for everyone was to get Davis a fresh start in Detroit as the team tries to reload key areas of Todd Bowles’ defense. Pressure is now on Jamel Dean to start looking like the top cornerback the Bucs need him to be, and there’s now room for Zyon McCollum and potentially a rookie to step into the spotlight and take a big step forward.
Jason Licht didn’t make it sound like trading Davis was an easy decision, but not everyone associated with the Bucs was sorry to see him go.
