By Chad Graff, Dianna Russini, Mike Silver and Cale Clinton
The Athletic has live coverage of NFL free agency. Track all the latest moves here.
The New England Patriots made their biggest splash of free agency on Monday, agreeing to terms with cornerback Carlton Davis on a three-year deal worth $18 million per season with incentives that can push it to $20 million a season, according to league sources. The deal also includes $34.5 million guaranteed, according to league sources. The move should give the Patriots one of the better cornerback pairings in the NFL.
Davis becomes the latest add for new coach Mike Vrabel on the defensive side of the football as New England has reached agreements with defensive end Harold Landry and linebacker Robert Spillane.
Ahead of free agency, Davis told The Athletic’s Mike Silver that he was taking lessons learned from his previous free agent experience into this one.
“I feel like last time, I just kind of panicked,” Davis told The Athletic. “I was younger, and my mindset was, ‘I need to go ahead and just choose.’ At the time, the thinking was, ‘This is the offer, and the more you wait, the more that number’s gonna go down.’ Yeah, that can happen, but teams know your value, and right now I’m playing my best football.
“This time, I ain’t gonna settle for less.”
Grading the good, the bad and the ugly from every key NFL free agency deal
Davis, 28, was No. 17 overall and the No. 3 cornerback in The Athletic’s list of the top 150 free agents. In 2024, six years after drafting him 63rd overall, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded Davis to the Detroit Lions. Davis signed a one-year deal with Detroit and made an immediate impact. In addition to allowing a career-low 49.3 percent completion rating when targeted, according to Sports Info Solutions, Davis led Detroit’s cornerbacks with 11 passes defensed. His contributions helped lead to a massive turnaround in the Lions secondary, which leapt from 25th in EPA per dropback in 2023 to sixth in 2024.
Detroit is also where Davis met Terrell Williams, the Patriots’ new defensive coordinator, who last season was the Lions’ defensive line coach and run game coordinator. So Davis comes to New England with some familiarity with who will be coaching him and running the unit.
While Davis is good in coverage and a strong tackler, he has had consistent struggles with injuries. Davis has never played more than 14 games in a season, missing the Lions’ final three regular-season games and the NFC divisional round with a fractured jaw.
Even with the lack of availability, Davis’ skills are undeniable. Since entering the league in 2018, his 84 passes defensed are fourth most among all cornerbacks.
Patriots 2025 free agency tracker: Seeking help at WR, O-line and D-line
How he fits
Davis was the Lions’ top cornerback a year ago, but he now will get the benefit of being the No. 2 corner for the Pats, meaning he should draw more favorable matchups if he’s not always marking the opponent’s best receiver.
He’s 6-foot-1 and a prototypical outside cornerback, which is a help since the Patriots have struggled in recent years with a smaller group of corners who struggled in the red zone against big receivers.
Now they boast an impressive cornerback duo with Gonzalez and Davis.
2025 impact
After a down year, the Patriots should be back to having one of the better secondaries in the NFL. Gonzalez and Davis are an excellent cornerback duo. If Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers bounce back from down years at safety, that’s an impressive starting four on the back end.
Davis can also be a mentor to Gonzalez, who shined in his second season — and first healthy season — in the NFL.
This Patriots roster remains one of the worst in the NFL, but the defense has gotten a lot better in the first few hours of the negotiating window. And it’s easier to see now how they’ll stop teams, especially if they can find someone to rush the passer.
Cap update
Davis made clear that he wouldn’t be taking a discount to go anywhere, and it seems he made good on that promise.
He’ll average $18 million per season with a chance at more via incentives. That’s fine with the Patriots, who still have loads of cap space even after signing Davis, Spillane and Landry.
Outlook
Defensively, I like a lot of what the Patriots are doing. Having a No. 2 cornerback is so important and the secondary should be good. The run stuffers they added at linebacker are important, though a big question remains at pass rusher.
Still, it’s difficult to get too excited about the team’s prospects until we know more about what the offensive line and wide receivers are going to look like.
They needed solid players on defense, and they’ve mostly accomplished that. But they need difference-makers on offense and that remains very much TBD.
Required reading
(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
