Former Auburn defensive back placed on Injured Reserve

Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis was placed on injured reserve on Thursday due to a quad injury suffered against the New England Patriots on Sunday, the team reported.

Davis will miss at least the next three games for the Buccaneers. The Auburn product joins fellow starting cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting on injured reserve. Murphy-Bunting suffered a dislocated elbow in the season opener and is not expected back on the active roster anytime soon. In addition to Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy-Bunting, Tampa Bay’s third cornerback, Jamel Dean suffered a knee injury that forced him to miss most of the Buccaneers’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams and kept him out of Sunday’s game with the Patriots.

In his fourth season in the league, Carlton Davis has recorded 15 tackles, 25 passes deflected and one interception through four games.

Last season, Davis played a crucial role in the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl run. Davis recorded 68 tackles, three tackles for loss, 18 passes deflected and four interceptions. In Tampa’s playoff run, Carlton Davis had 22 tackles and three passes deflected.

To compensate for the loss of Dean and Murphy-Bunting, the Buccaneers signed former All-Pro Richard Sherman to a one-year deal ahead of Sunday’s win over New England.

In his NFL career, Carlton Davis has recorded 183 tackles, 46 passes deflected and six interception. Davis was drafted in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft by Tampa Bay after three seasons at Auburn. In his Auburn career, Davis started since his freshman year, appearing in 36 total games over three seasons. As a freshman, Carlton Davis recorded 56 tackles and three interceptions. Over his sophomore and junior seasons, Davis recorded 46 and 34 tackles to go along with a single interception his junior season.

Sherman was released by the San Francisco 49ers following last season. The Stanford product missed a sizable portion of the season with a calf strain and only played in five games.

In his debut for the Buccaneers on Sunday, Sherman recorded seven tackles and recovered a fumble, but struggled in pass coverage. Now 33, Sherman isn’t the athlete he once was but adds a veteran presence to a cornerback room that desperately needs bodies, and will be able to provide the Buccaneers young cornerbacks with advice as the unit gets healthier through the season.

Sherman leads the NFL in interceptions since his debut in the pros with 36. He played college football at Stanford, and the Seahawks selected him in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft.