Tampa Bay Buccaneers trading Carlton Davis to Detroit Lions

After six seasons in Tampa Bay, Carlton Davis’ services look as though they will be going elsewhere at the start of free agency.

Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are trading Davis to the Detroit Lions. The Bucs will also, per Adam Schefter at ESPN, be sending out a pair of sixth-round picks, one in 2024 and one in 2025, in order to receive a third-round pick for this year’s draft from Detroit.

Trade! The #Lions are acquiring CB Carlton Davis from the #Bucs, per source.

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 11, 2024

Davis came into the NFL as the 63rd pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He did so after three collegiate seasons at Auburn.

During 76 appearances in Tampa’s secondary, Davis posted 324 tackles. He also had 73 deflections, nine interceptions, and four recoveries to go with three forced fumbles.

Most of that came in his career-year in 2020 when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV. Davis finished that season with 68 tackles along with four interceptions that were a team-high. In their playoff run, he had 22 more tackles and a deflection en route to the team winning their lone Super Bowl.

Davis and Tampa Bay met the Lions in the NFC Divisional Round in this past postseason. In that 31-23 win for Detroit, Davis finished with seven tackles.

Davis’ contributions were part of three defenses for the Bucs in the last four years that finished in the Top-10 in the league. All four units since 2020 finished in the top half of the NFL.

In 2023, the Lions’ defense finished at 23rd in the league, even if the team made the NFC Championship. Their main issue was certainly the pass defense as the finished in 27th in both total pass yards and passing touchdowns allowed. For reference, the unit finished at No. 2 in the NFL in total rushing yards given up.

Davis will arrive with one year left on his current deal. He already played the first two years of a three-year, $44.5 million deal that he signed ahead of 2022. The Lions will now owe him $14 million in salary for this upcoming season.

Davis has been a big asset for Tampa Bay since the turn of the decade. Now, it appears like he will head to Detroit in order to add his experience to the Lions’ secondary.

More on the 2024 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2024 calendar year begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. At that time, contracts running through 2023 officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player. That will start on Feb. 20th at 4 p.m. ET and end on March 5th. Beginning March 11 through March 13, teams can enter into a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 19 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets. On April 24, the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets hits. Following the restricted free agent deadline comes the 2024 NFL Draft, which runs from April 25-27.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match, that round’s pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.