New analysis puts pressure squarely on Lions cornerback Carlton Davis

The Detroit Lions needed upgrades to their secondary this offseason, and the biggest move they made was trading for cornerback Carlton Davis.

Davis was viewed as a bonafide game-changer for Detroit because of his presence as a legitimate starter and a former Super Bowl champion at a position of need.

Heading into the 2024 season, there are no shortage of x-factors for the Lions. Bleacher Report writer Kristopher Knox believes Davis fits that description best given how he could change things on his own.

"The Detroit Lions have an explosive offense, a powerful defensive front and a head coach in Dan Campbell who has led the franchise back to relevance. Detroit pushed all the way to the NFC title game last season, but it couldn't hold a lead against the San Francisco 49ers due, in large part, to its biggest weakness. The Lions ranked just 29th in net yards allowed per pass attempt last season."

"Detroit threw some darts at the all-important cornerback position this offseason, trading for Carlton Davis and using its first two picks on Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. Davis, is obviously the veteran leader of the group and is widely expected to have a significant impact on the defense right away."

"If Davis is truly going to be a lockdown corner for the Lions, though, he'll need to rebound from what was, for him, a down year in 2023. After allowing an opposing passer rating below 90.0 between 2019 and 2022, he allowed a passer rating of 96.1 in 2023."

Literally upon his arrival, Davis embraced the pressure to be the lockdown corner the Lions need.

Aaron Glenn excited to have game-changers in Lions' secondary

By adding Davis, and his prowess as man cover corner, the Lions can be the aggressive, man coverage-based defense Aaron Glenn prefers to be.

Last week, speaking more broadly about the changes made this offseason, the Lions' defensive coordinator said precisely that.

"Once you start to inject players that have a certain talent, you continue to evolve and try to make sure you do things that you like to do. We have a number of those players. The defensive backs that we brought in really fit my personality on how we want to get ready to play. The defensive lineman that we have, they really fit the personality of how we want to play. So I'm excited to do some things that I think overall as an organization we want to do. Because we're an aggressive offense. We're aggressive on special teams. We want to be aggressive on defense also."

While the Lions' defensive fortunes won't depend entirely on one man, Davis is a major x-factor that could push the Lions over the top if he is as good as advertised.