First off I do agree with people that Vontae hasn't lost anything YET. But it's also clear he stands very close to losing that starting job.
Anyway, my point is this argument that Vontae isn't losing anything and isn't being demoted is REALLY digging into semantics. He was close to an every down corner, as most starting corners are. He played the perimeter nearly every down, about 84% of downs during the games he played in 2011, and 99% in 2010. Now, he's looking at only coming on the field roughly the same amount that Will Allen did a year ago and Benny Sapp did two years ago.
Was Will Allen a "starter"? No. Was Benny Sapp? No they were not. They may have technically been on the field on the first play of a few games but the fact of the matter is WHEN all three corners (Sean Smith, Will Allen/Benny Sapp and Vontae Davis) were on the roster and on the field together, Sean Smith took 733 of 757 possible snaps (97%) in 2011, Vontae Davis had 643 snaps (85%) that same year and Will Allen had 489 snaps (65.5%). In 2010, Sean Smith regained his starting job in Week 7, and from there on played 661 of 721 snaps (92%) while Vontae Davis played 715 of 721 snaps (99%) and Benny Sapp played 399 snaps (55%).
Clearly there are snaps at stake in this question of who is a "starter" and who is not. In 2010 the two starters were at 92% and 99% participation. In 2011, Vontae was down to 84% participation and now if Richard Marshall claims the job that he's competing for, Davis looks like he could be anywhere from 55% to 65% participation. That's quite the fall from grace.
And you guys are really going to mince words with me about whether he's up for a demotion or not? Come on, man.
Now, it would be one thing if Vontae was not coming OFF the field at all, but rather was moving INSIDE to the slot during these nickel plays. But that isn't what has been described to us. What has been described to us is Vontae coming OFF the field and then coming back on during nickel downs. I wish Omar would have been more specific in his article. He needs to specify the DIFFERENCE between being a SLOT corner and being a NICKEL corner. They're not one-in-the-same. He says that Vontae is being trained as a nickel corner in case he's ever needed to play that role. He goes on to describe how different the position is and how it's tough to learn. However, the way he describes it, it seems almost like Omar is saying that Vontae is being trained as a SLOT corner.
What Omar is saying would be true, IF Vontae were actually moving INSIDE...but we've no reports of that. Additionally, if you're training Vontae at SLOT then there's no need for him to come off the field at all. All that would happen is in nickel packages Richard Marshall would come on the field an man the perimeter corner position while Vontae moved inside to the slot. Then when they're back in base, Marshall would come off the field and Vontae would move back out to perimeter.
That's not what is happening. And yes that means Vontae Davis is in danger of losing a prestigious job in the NFL. Don't expect, for example, Vontae to get voted to the Pro Bowl taking only 55 to 65% of snaps.
