Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

Colts at Cowboys%2C 4%3A25 p.m. Sunday%2C CBS

The maturation first began in Miami, because that's where the cracks first began to surface. His was a swift, startling decline – from tantalizing talent to trade bait in two-plus seasons – and by the start of Year 4, the team that had drafted Vontae Davis 25th overall was willing ship him out of town.

"He's a good kid, but I wonder if we're ever going to get him to where we would like him to be," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin confessed on the HBO series "Hard Knocks," which documented Miami's 2012 training camp.

To that point, Davis couldn't shake the siren song of South Beach. He was young. Wealthy. Living in Miami. He admits staying out too late, too often. His play was electric at times, erratic at others. On one occasion, he showed up late to practice the day before a game – reportedly smelling of alcohol, a claim Davis refutes – then scuffled with teammate Brandon Marshall during the workout.

His commitment was questioned. His production waned. Miami's front office grew tired of waiting. So they dropped him from the starting lineup, then traded him. "I'm going to call my grandma," was Davis' initial response when told he was headed to Indianapolis.

On his way out the door, then-Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland left him with one final thought.

"This could be a very big positive for you," he told him.

Ireland's words proved prophetic: The trade to the Colts was the move that rescued Vontae Davis' career.

"When I think about Miami, I sit back and laugh," he says now, 14 games into his finest season. "It's crazy to me how far I've come since then."

Just how far has he come? All the way back. All the way from first-round pick oozing with potential to a disappointment with the Dolphins to one of the premier cornerbacks in the game with the Colts. From inconsistent and immature to understated and dependable.

He's become what he never was in Miami: A pro.

"If the things that happened in Miami wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't be the person or the player I am today," Davis concedes.

Off the field, he's never been happier (he's engaged to his longtime girlfriend). On the field, he's never been better. He blankets half the field every Sunday with the sort of lockdown coverage quarterbacks detest and defenses crave. The Colts' MVP this season? Probably goes to Andrew Luck. But the Colts' best player? Davis makes a worthy argument.

Consider: So superb was his coverage in a Week 4 thumping of Tennessee, he wasn't thrown at a single time. It was an NFL cornerback's equivalent of a perfect game. "They went straight Richard Sherman on him," coach Chuck Pagano gushed.

Consider: Opposing quarterbacks throwing in his direction this season average a measly passer rating of 35.5. No NFL corner has been better.

Consider: Even missing the equivalent of more than two games due injury, he's second in the league in passes defended (20) and tied for fifth in interceptions (4) despite the indisputable fact that QBs are often too scared to look his way.

Consider: He hasn't yielded a single touchdown in 730 snaps this season. To find the last score he allowed, you have to go back to Week 13 of last season. That's a span of 1,014 plays.

Hearing this, Davis laughs.

"Aw, man, you shouldn't have told me that," he says. "You're gonna jinx me."

If the maturation was rooted in the mistakes he made while in Miami, it took hold in Indianapolis. His stunning exit from the Dolphins hit him with a heavy dose of perspective.

No, he wasn't invincible.

No, he couldn't skate by on his prodigious talent.

And no, the NFL wasn't going to wait for him to grow up.

"When you're a younger guy, you do things like, 'Oh, man, why did I do that?'" Davis says now. "When I was in Miami, I was doing a lot of things I probably wouldn't do now. Dumb stuff.

"The trade made me look at the NFL as an opportunity I had," he continues. "And I didn't want to let that opportunity slip through my fingers. I had all the talent in the world to be the best player I could be, and I wanted to take ownership and make the most of my experience in the NFL. You only get one of them."

He got another shot in Indianapolis, a fresh start. Davis seized it. He repeatedly credits Pagano, a former defensive back himself, whom Davis has formed a tight bond with in his three seasons here. Pagano's guidance has molded Davis' life off the field and his play on it.

"I've never had a coach like him," Davis says. "The little things he's taught me have gone a long way. He taught me the things you do outside the building carry over to what you do in the building."

For Pagano, Davis' development has come in the details. Now, he cares about Wednesday's practice as much as he cares about Sunday's game.

"His preparation is better than it's ever been," Pagano says. "Practice habits, in the meeting room, walk-throughs, just the detail of his game. You see the results on Sunday because of what he's doing throughout the course of the week and I think that's where he's taken his game."

But it stretches beyond technique and tactics. They are the lessons Davis had to learn after his football mortality first flashed before his eyes in Miami. They've helped him become one of the best at his position in football.

No longer does his talent go to waste. He's become the heart of a defense that will play every game this season bereft of its longtime backbone, Robert Mathis. As for that trade he was acquired with two seasons back, one in which the Colts sent Miami a second-round pick? An utter steal for Indianapolis.

Shutdown corners like Davis are among the most prized commodities in today's pass-happy NFL.

Colts general manager Ryan Grigson saw his development and rewarded Davis last March with a four-year, $39 million deal. So far, he's earned every penny. He's getting no love from Pro Bowl voters – Davis is currently outside the top 10 among fan voters – but according to Pro Football Focus, which tracks every snap of every game, he's a Pro Bowl starter.

For Davis and the Colts, Sunday's 17-10 win over Houston was capped in fitting fashion. Texans back-up QB Tom Savage was imprudent enough throw Davis' way late in the fourth quarter.

Not a wise move. Davis picked him off to seal the victory.

A true test arrives Sunday in Dallas, where Davis will match up at times with the Cowboys' Dez Bryant, among the NFL's most physically-imposing pass-catchers.

"That's why we play this game," Davis says. "To play against the best in the league."

Best in the league? He won't say it, but that's exactly what Vontae Davis has become.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.

Colts at Cowboys, 4:25 p.m. Sunday, CBS