Tampa Bay’s cornerback Carlton Davis joined the media for a virtual press conference on Wednesday where he discussed a number of important topics ranging his recent meetings with local community leaders, his thoughtful social media post from earlier in the day and how he and other Bucs have prepared throughout an extremely unique offseason.

This past Saturday, joined by offensive tackle Donovan Smith, offensive guard Ali Marpet and safety D’Cota Dixon, Davis met with a number of local leaders in response to the nation-wide attention focused on racial injustice and inequality.

Tampa mayor Jane Castor, Major Calvin Johnson of the Tampa Police Department, Judge Barbara Twine Thomas and Janelle McGregor from the City of Tampa Community Partnerships were some of those in attendance.

Bucs SS Jordan Whitehead and CB Carlton Davis – Photo by: Getty Images

“It was really powerful just to hear the judges speak, just to hear other officers speak, to hear the mayor speak and how they felt, and to just have them listen to us,” Davis said. “It was very powerful, I got so much from it. Just to have their take on it and to see it from their perspective, it kind of changed the whole dynamic for me and made me look at it differently because there were some points that the judges made, there were some points that the police officers made, that allowed me to see their point of view and ultimately made me understand. That’s kind of how I got to that point, where if we all educated ourselves on what we were going through and picked each other’s minds, that would make it a smoother road for us to walk moving forward.”

The virtual press conference came shortly after a post on social media from Davis, where the 23-year-old defensive back explained his feelings on racial disparities in America today, including stories about his mother – a corrections officer – and having guns drawn on him at a routine traffic stop in his mid-teens.

“For me, I just felt like I needed to use my platform to kind of spread awareness,” Davis said. “I think the key to what is going on right now is everybody is educating themselves on what’s actually going on in America because I just feel as if from my experiences, it’s just not being told to everybody.”

Davis continued.

“Not everybody knows what’s going on and I think that’s part of the problem, where people are starting to show things without any evidence or any kind of knowledge of what’s going on because it’s only happening in certain areas or it’s only happening to black people. You can never know, and I think it’s our job to raise awareness, use our voices in a positive way and help educate people so we can fight this thing together because I understand that you can’t do this alone. It’s going to take everybody, it’s going to take a whole community to stand up for what we believe in as one people and not seeing each other as a different race, but just one people, citizens of America.”

Davis called the experience traumatizing and said that it introduced everybody involved to the world a lot quicker than they would have wanted too. He added that even today he feels like he must walk on eggshells in his own community and that it’s heartbreaking to feel targeted due to his skin color and his physique by people that should be viewed as heroes, people who are supposed to protect and serve.

“That definitely does something to your psyche as far as everyday living and how you go about making your choices as far as going to the store or driving.”

Bucs CB Carlton Davis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Davis argued that building relationships between the police department and the community that they serve, in addition to holding officers accountable and opening the door for people to learn more about each other, can help bridge the divide moving forward.

From a football perspective, Davis said that it’s been an offseason full of online meetings and grouping up with his fellow defensive backs to prepare for a season without OTAs.

“Training never kind of stopped for me,” Davis said. “I understand the social distancing and everything that’s going on but I’ve kept my schedule. Our team is doing a great job as far as giving us virtual workouts and making sure that we’re in shape. As far as the playbook goes or meeting with my guys, we’re meeting together as a collective unit and kind of doing the same things. Going over plays, making sure we’re on the same page and kind of using this time the same way we’d use it if COVID never existed, as far as making sure that we know every role on our defense and understanding what our coach wants us to do and how he wants us to do it. So we’ve done a good job of staying in contact and making sure that we still have that chemistry.”

But the biggest loss, according to Davis, will be for incoming rookies who are missing out on valuable reps throughout rookie minicamp, OTAs and other valuable team activities due to the pandemic.

“After my rookie year, going into OTAs, I was really big on getting reps,” Davis said. “That’s all first-year players around the league, they kind of suffer from not being able to go into spring and get that development because I think that’s an important part of the process in developing into the kind of athlete that you want to become. So I think that all across the league, first-year players are kind of hurting because of COVID-19 and what we’re experiencing”