Carl Davis is stellar in his Ravens debut

With Timmy Jernigan sidelined in week 1, rookie 3rd rounder Carl Davis had a chance to show what he could do following a preseason were he flashed high level ability. Davis was considered to be a border-line first round pick, but slipped all the way to the late 3rd round, with inconsistent effort being one of the likely reason. The 6"5 320 lb defensive lineman out of Iowa was likely the best value pick by the Ravens, and signifies the third year in a row the Ravens have invested a significant asset (top 3 rounds) on the defensive line. With Haloti Ngata in a Lions uniform, Brandon Williams looks to be the next great nose tackle and Timmy Jernigan has flashed elite pass rush ability. But Davis could be the player to put the unit over the top.

Davis got the start in place of Jernigan in Denver and according to the Sun's Jeff Zrebiac, he "more than held his own."

Per BR.com:

With Davis next to Brandon Williams in the trenches, the Ravens extended their NFL-best active streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher to 27 games. Davis finished with three tackles, batted down a pass and was the highest-graded Ravens defender by Pro Football Focus.

Here is Davis's grade, second on the defense after Jimmy Smith:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ProFootballFocus top 5 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ravens?src=hash">#Ravens</a>:&#10;CB Jimmy Smith (+3.4)&#10;DE Carl Davis (+3.2)&#10;S Will Hill (+3.1)&#10;ILB C.J. Mosley (+2.9)&#10;RG Marshal Yanda (+2.4)</p>&mdash; Sunday Sports Voice (@SSVonWNST) <a href="https://twitter.com/SSVonWNST/status/643897315661627392">September 15, 2015</a></blockquote>

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With Jernigan set to return this week against the Oakland Raiders, Davis may move back to the bench to start games. But make no mistake, Davis is one of the keys for this years Ravens team in their quest for another Lombardi trophy.