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Bengals Film Breakdown: Tacario Davis’ Traits Jump Off the Tape

The Bengals selected Tacario Davis with the 72nd pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Mike Santagata|
Dave Sizer

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Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Washington cornerback Tacario Davis with the 72nd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Davis is a long, strong corner who is coming off of a season where he was named an honorable mention for the Big 10 All-American team. He finished his senior season with two interceptions and three pass breakups, but his best season may have come when he was a 19 year old sophomore. He only had one intercepton, but managed to break up 15 passes which was the fourth best in the entire NCAA. Let’s take a deeper look into Davis’s game and how he succeeded in college:

Where He Excels

  • Calm with the ball in the air and when he is beat off of the release and on double moves
  • Strength to jam & reroute WRs out of bounds when given the opportunity
  • Long wingspan and speed gives him a large window to make plays on the ball
  • Solid change of direction for his size
  • Route anticipation allow him to win at the break point

Areas of Concern

  • Too grabby at the break point of routes
  • Lacks high-end acceleration
  • Struggles getting out of backpedal at times

Overall Thoughts

Davis has the strength and length to overwhelm wide receivers. He is physical in coverage and uses his length to the best of his ability. He has the long speed to keep up with most wide receivers on the outside as well. When it comes to his movement ability, he has solid ability to change direction and flip his hips considering his size and does a decent job decelerating after opening up as well. His main limitation in this area is that he takes a while to accelerate.

He was mostly asked to play soft shoe press or off coverage in college, but when he got the opportunity to be physical and jam receivers he succeeded. His strength and length showed up quite a bit here where he was able to jam and reroute receivers to not only break up route timing, but also to force them out of bounds making them ineligible to catch the ball.

One of Davis’s most impressive traits is his ability to remain calm. He recovers well when beat on the release because there’s never any panic with him. He also remains very calm when the ball is in the air. Even though he can be a bit too grabby at the break point on routes, he does not panic and grab receivers all that often when the ball is in the air.

Davis also has a knack for understanding when a route is going to break. He anticipates these routes which allows him to cut them off. He did have a few mental errors and coverage busts in college just not being on the same page as his teammates. Despite having good change of direction for his size, it’s probably not good enough for him to play inside against quick slot receivers either. There were moments where he was asked to play free safety due to jet motion which shows the faith that his coaching staff had in him. While he did not have very many translatable reps in this alignment, it does spark some intrigue.

In run support, Davis leaves a little bit to be desired considering his size. He’s not a corner that is willing to consistently exert his will although there are highlight reel moments when he is willing to play with violence. He’s an alright tackler for an outside corner but not quite good enough to be a stopping force against the run. This is another reason he most likely will have to be an outside corner at the NFL level.

Schematic Fit

The easiest role to project for Davis in his rookie season is against tight ends. Al Golden asked his defense to play a bit more man coverage on the back half of the season last year. With Davis’s length and size, he can be tasked with playing man coverage against tight ends on third down. He should be able to fit into the Tre Flowers role that has been missing since he left the team after 2022.

Another area where Davis could make an immediate impact is on special teams as the Bengals lost a few pieces this off-season. His size and long speed gives him quite a bit of potential as a special teamer. He could certainly take over at one of the outside corner positions in the future, especially with DJ Turner and Dax Hill set to hit free agency. If he truly impresses in training camp, he could even take over in his rookie season as the third corner with Hill kicking inside to the slot in that personnel grouping.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

Mike Santagata is an offensive line and film expert. He's written and analyzed Bengals film for the past four years. He also hosts the Always Gameday in Cincinnati podcast and is a regular guest on the Locked On Bengals podcast.

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