The Detroit Lions had one thing they really wanted to do last offseason and that was rebuild the secondary. They did just that with two big moves. Trading a third-round pick for Carlton Davis and signing Amik Robertson.
Davis had a very good season for the Lions. One that saw him allow passes his way to be caught just 59.7% of the way. He had six pass breakups and two picks. Then he unfortunately broke his jaw against the Bills in Week 15.
Robertson also had a big first season in Detroit. He allowed a reception percentage of 57.5% and had seven pass breakups. No picks though.
Before Davis went down, it seemed lie a no-brainer to get him signed up for a new deal after the 2024 season. After the injury, Robertson stepped in his place and looked incredibly good as a starter. In four games as the team’s CB1, Robertson allowed a reception percentage of just 47.1% and had four pass breakups.
The big performance came against Justin Jefferson in Week 18. A game in which he held Jefferson to three catches for 54 yards on nine targets.
So now the question is, do you sign Davis up to a new contract or do you work on an extension for Robertson? At the end of the day, it might come down to cost and cost alone.
We worked with cap expert Joshua Queipo on projections for both moves and here’s what we came up with.
Carlton Davis’ new contract
Three-year deal worth $52 million with $35 million guaranteed.
That’s a pretty good deal for Davis. That would make him the 13th highest-paid cornerback in the NFL and you could understand why he would make that kind of money. He’s been a solid cornerback in the NFL for some time now and the Lions liked what he was able to bring to the table.
Amik Robertson’s extension
Two-year $11 million with $5 million guaranteed
That is a significantly smaller deal, but you still get some really good play out of it. This would have Robertson in Detroit until 2027.
So what do you do? There’s a thought that you could probably do both, but when you consider our projected extension total for another guy in the secondary Kerby Joseph comes in at four-years $82 million, it kind of makes you wonder how much money you really want to have tied up in the secondary right now.
Plus you have Ennis Rakestraw coming back healthy. The original plan for him was to start at the nickel early in the year until an injury really changed his year.
This really leads us toward the answer of letting Carlton Davis hit free agency and moving forward with Robertson, Terrion Arnold, and Rakestraw as your starters and maybe drafting an extra guy or two.