Why Corey Davis is the second-most important Tennessee Titans player

Joe Rexrode | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption National anthem: Titans have 'support' to remain in locker room Titans coach Mike Vrabel said his players have the "entire organization's support" to remain in the locker room during the pre-game national anthem.

Corey Davis was everything you’d expect to see and everything you’d expect to hear this week. He was long-striding all over the Tennessee Titans practice field, big and quick, snatching passes out of the air and turning upfield.

He was doing extra work with Marcus Mariota after it was over, then more on his own with the Jugs machine. And he was saying this about a second NFL season in which he will be the second-most-important player on his team: “I’m not proving anything to anyone. That sounds harsh but I’ve got a lot to prove to myself. All these outside expectations, whatever they may say, they can keep saying it. But I know what I’m capable of, and my expectations are higher than anyone else’s that they can put on me. I know what I’m going to get out of myself, and this team as well.”

More: Titans 2017 draft class: Corey Davis, Adoree' Jackson looking to build on rookie seasons

The most important player, obviously, is Mariota, entering his fourth season with his third head coach (Mike Vrabel) and fourth offensive coordinator (Matt LaFleur). If he can (please forgive me) LaFlourish in this new system, the Titans can build on their first playoff win in 14 years. I don’t see it happening, not to the extent necessary, if Davis doesn’t become a top-flight No. 1 receiver in 2018.

That’s a lot to put on a second-year player who was still recovering from ankle surgery a year ago and whose rookie year was largely washed out by recurring hamstring issues. But much was heaped on Davis when the Titans picked him No. 5 overall in the 2017 draft. Expectations of a massive leap — at a position that sees them often in year two — are fair.

This is a pick that absolutely has to be a hit, with the Titans presumably soon to be shelling out massive contracts to left tackle Taylor Lewan, and then Mariota. Beyond that, this is a 2018 receiving corps with one established commodity in Rishard Matthews, an abundance of youth and a lack of depth. The makeup of this roster demands something in the neighborhood of 80 catches and 1,000 yards from Davis.

Davis did most of his good work late

Titans' Corey Davis has fresh legs, confidence Titans rookie wide receiver Corey Davis is expected to play against the Ravens on Sunday after missing five games with a hamstring injury.

Here’s what isn’t fair: Looking at anything Davis did or didn’t do last season and projecting him as a disappointment. As it is with Mariota and a lot of players in this violent sport, durability is always a concern, but the receiver Jon Robinson drafted to be a centerpiece could be glimpsed in 2017 — shrouded as he was by a problematic hamstring and problem-filled offense.

The 6-foot-3, 209-pound Davis was not a burner at Western Michigan and was never going to be a burner in the NFL. That doesn’t mean he can’t be great. Change of speed, change of direction, precise routes, physicality, hands — these are his tools. Once the hammy finally cooled down on Davis late in the season and he got more reps, he started to look like an NFL player.

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Davis had nine catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns — both in a season-ending loss at New England, one a gorgeous one-handed grab to beat one of his newest teammates, Malcolm Butler — in the Titans’ two playoff games. Of his 43 catches for 473 yards, 15 of the catches and 189 of the yards were collected from Christmas Eve on.

“When the guy is healthy,” Titans tight end Delanie Walker said Wednesday of Davis, “he can be whoever he wants to be on the field.”

Davis says he’s all good now, though he did complain of a neck cramp just before speaking with reporters. Maybe he was having a flashback. Davis always was professional as a rookie, but the strain of a season that saw him miss five games and barely register in many others was all over his face as the season progressed. The answers got shorter and harder to elicit. Most of these guys claim some level of immunity to the chatter outside the fishbowl, but few of them actually attain it.

More: Titans, Taylor Lewan have yet to discuss contract extension

“Honestly, I stay away from most of that, the good and the bad. But it’s everywhere,” Davis said of that chatter. “It’s Twitter, it’s Instagram, it’s just this world, that’s how it is. You can’t run from it. But I accept it, I embrace it.”

And he can change it, though he said his primary motivation is to prove to himself “that I can play in this league.”

“That I can play with anyone, can play with the best of them,” Davis said. “It pretty much comes down to that.”

Davis on Titans' new offense: 'We're hyped up'

This was the Davis we remembered from before the rookie season started to slip away, confident and frank, saying of last season: “I mean, I can’t throw it out. I learned a lot about myself. It was definitely a tough year, I’m not going to lie. There was ups, there was downs, but I’m a man of faith and I trusted my God with everything in me. I trusted his path.”

And saying of LaFleur’s offense: “Our (receiver) room, we’re hyped up. We’re excited about this new coaching staff, excited about the new opportunities that are ahead of us. I know what I’m going to get out of each one of those guys in that room, and this team.”

More: Titans supporting players who remain in locker room for national anthem

He was everything you’d expect to see and hear. It’s the spring, the time for optimistic vows, and Vrabel said he has noticed Davis in the weight room early and on the practice field late, getting in extra work. Mariota spoke last week of the chemistry he’s building with Davis, and of the benefit of that second year in the NFL when “it’s like a sigh of relief, you understand the situation, you understand what’s expected of you.”

Not that Davis has had any confusion about that since his draft night.

“These guys, J-Rob, he believed in me,” Davis said of Robinson. “He picked me at 5 and I’ve just got to prove to myself that I’m definitely worth that pick. And I will.”

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.