Here at Cat Scratch Reader we have counted down the final 100 days leading up to the Carolina Panthers season opener by for at least the past ten years. We’ve always done this by highlighting the current player on the roster whose jersey number matches the day on the countdown. This year, we decided to change that up a bit by counting down our own list of the Top 100 Panthers of all time. This does not correspond to jersey number, does not need to be somebody who wore a jersey, and will in no way be controversial.
#31. Eric Davis
Eric Davis followed up a quality college career at Jacksonville State by being the 53rd overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft selected by the San Francisco 49ers. After playing a lot but not starting his rookie season, he won the starting job in his second year only to miss most of the year after a severe shoulder injury in just the second game of the season. Despite the setback, Davis returned the following year with a vengeance, starting all 16 games while notching 61 tackles and three interceptions. After helping the 49ers claim the Super Bowl in the 1995 season and being named a First Team All-Pro, he left as an unrestricted free agent. He signed a four year, $11.4 million deal with the Panthers, which is the equivalent of about $21 million per year in today’s salary cap (think DaRon Bland, AJ Terrell type of contract).
Davis spent five seasons with the Panthers overall and was outstanding every year. The 1996 season was his second Pro Bowl year in a row as Davis had 60 tackles and five picks while forcing three fumbles for the surprise NFC Championship runner ups. Davis was incredibly consistent turning the ball over with Carolina, snagging exactly five interceptions every season during his five year tenure. Passes defended didn’t become an official stat until 1999, and that really showed Davis’s impact on the game. He had 24 passes defended in 1999, good for second in the NFL and only one off the leader. He followed that up with 18 the following year, even adding four forced fumbles for good measure. Though the Panthers ended up releasing Davis following the 2000 season, he played a couple more years in the league with the Broncos and Lions before retiring.
Eric Davis is one of several players we all look back fondly on from those late 90s Panthers teams. Up until some guy named Chris Gamble, Davis was the franchise leader in career interceptions. Further cementing his impact: Davis got 25 picks in five seasons, while Gamble needed eight years to get his 27. That 1996 squad had some dawgs on it, as GM Dan Morgan would say, and Eric Davis was right there in the middle of that pack, earning his spot at No.31 on our list.