FOXBOROUGH — Cornerback Carlton Davis, who had been sidelined for the last two weeks with a hamstring issue, returned to the field for Saturday’s training camp practice.
“Just had to rehab it and get back out there,” he said after Saturday’s workout. “It’s been a minute.”
With Christian Gonzalez out, the veteran was forced to handle an extended workload in his first day back as a full participant. He went against some of his team’s best receivers in game action, and yielded multiple touchdowns, both in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work. That included a Drake Maye-to-Kayshon Boutte ball in a 7-on-7 session where Boutte outmuscled Davis for the reception.
Davis admitted afterward he was still trying to “get [his] legs back” after more than two weeks on the sideline — but, all in all, it was a good return.
“It felt good to get back out there, for sure,” he said. “Obviously, when you take two weeks off, you’ve got to get back into it. You’ve got to catch the flow of things. You’ve got to your legs back up under you. So I’m going through the process, but it felt great to get back out there and compete.”
He also acknowledged the work of the receiving corps — including Boutte, Romeo Doubs, and A.J. Brown — which had another sparkling day.
“It’s a great group. A lot of competition. They have a lot of depth … a lot of depth. A lot of those guys could be starters anywhere,” Davis said. “We’re lucky to have them on our team.”
The 29-year-old Davis, the oldest cornerback on the roster, is set to enter his second season here and ninth in the NFL. A Super Bowl champion with Tampa Bay in 2020, Davis has settled nicely into the No. 2 cornerback role. The 6-foot-1-inch, 200-pounder had 69 combined tackles and 10 passes defensed in the regular season last year, the first season of his career where he played all 17 regular-season games.
In contrast to Gonzalez’s elite fluidity, Davis is a physical, hands-on presence who can thrive in press coverage. But there are the occasional missteps. He led the league in defensive pass interference calls last year with nine, and his occasional penchant for wearing brightly colored game-day gloves likely contributed to his three defensive holding calls last season.
But he’s also carved out a niche as a favored teammate who is capable of making big plays in important moments, like his two picks of Houston’s C.J. Stroud in last year’s divisional round win.
“That’s my guy,” said fellow cornerback Kindle Vildor, who was a teammate of Davis in Detroit. “He’s super smart, instinctive. I mean, just looking at him last year in the playoff game, to be able to get two interceptions on C.J. Stroud?
“Very instinctive, a veteran player. I mean, Super Bowl champ. The list goes on and on for him.”
On Saturday, Davis said it wasn’t a big deal that he took the bulk of the reps at the lead spot with Gonzalez on the sideline. He welcomes the occasionally harrowing nature of life as an NFL cornerback because, in his words, “there’s nobody saving you.”
“I don’t see it like that; No. 2 or No. 1 [corner],” he said. “I feel like when you at a corner, you’re playing to the best of your abilities. You’re playing whoever you’re in front of. Depending on the call or the scheme, you’ve got to do your job.
“I feel like at corner you’ve got to be able to do your job, and that’s it — for real. I’m not really worried about who I’m [defending]. I’m just trying to stick the guy and play good defense.”
Davis said he’s not the type who necessarily needs preseason game reps, only continued practice reps. With that in mind, he’ll look to progress over the next week, a stretch that includes joint practices with the Eagles that should provide him a good test.
“It’s a really important week,” he said. “A lot of momentum going into it. That’s a good team coming in here, and you know it’s going to be a lot of great competition between us. So I’m excited for that. And those are the type of practices that you need to go out there and compete and get ready for the season.”
Christopher Price can be reached at christopher.price@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at christopherprice.bsky.social.