After the first day of practice at Tampa Bay's rookie minicamp over the weekend, Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter was asked how he thought second-round cornerback Carlton Davis had looked. Koetter said he didn't know; he'd spent most of the day with the offense. He'd need to look at the tape.
Koetter did, and he liked what he saw from the former Auburn standout.
"After we looked at the tape last night, Carlton probably had one of the best days on defense of anybody out there yesterday," Koetter said. "We already knew he was a good player in press coverage, but we wanted to see him play some off coverage as well, and he did a really good job. His form tackling -- for football on air -- was good, and we were fired up about the way he played yesterday."
Davis said he had to make an adjustment to show the coaches what they wanted to see at minicamp.
"The way I learned DB in college initially was I played on and off, so I played press and off," Davis said. "My last two years, I played a lot of press man, so just coming here was just like, at times, was just get back into playing off and get comfortable with it. It wasn't a huge step for me, but I guess I'm back acclimated with it and I'm comfortable now."
Davis joined the Bucs in the second round of the NFL Draft on April 27.
"I was nervous at first coming out here, it being my first day, not knowing what to expect," Davis said this weekend. "But after a couple of plays, it's just like playing football when you were younger. Football is football no matter what stage you're on. I'm just out here having fun."
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Tampa Bay returns its starting cornerbacks, Brent Grimes and Vernon Hargreaves. But the Buccaneers also finished last in the NFL in pass defense in the 2017 season, so Tampa Bay not only drafted Davis, it also picked North Carolina cornerback M.J. Stewart in the second round.
"To be honest with you, I can't tell you how the depth chart works," Davis said. "We're just getting reps. I'm not sure if there's any order in that. We're all just getting reps and trying to get it the best way we can with the guys we have in the room, so to be honest, I don't know where I'm at on the depth chart, what side I'll be playing on. I'm just getting the reps."
What Davis does know is that he can get the job done for the Buccaneers.
"I feel like when you play corner, you've got to have a lot of confidence and you've got to always believe in yourself," Davis said. "Without that, you're kind of dead out there. It's a position where you're on your own a lot, and without confidence you might not be as good as you think you are."
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.