Corey Davis: I do consider myself a No. 1 wide receiver

[Broadway Joe]

Getty Images

New Jets wide receiver Corey Davis was one of the first at his position off the market, agreeing to a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Jets on March 15.

With the deal averaging $12.5 million per year, Davis is being paid like someone who should lead the receiving group. And that’s the way he sees himself entering his fifth pro season.

“I do consider myself a No.1 wide receiver,” Davis said Tuesday, via DJ Bien-Aime II of the New York Daily News. “My ability to get open, my speed, separation, releases, I feel like I could do it all.

“I’m a 1,000-yard receiver. It’s just up to me to put in the work, make sure that I’m healthy and can play a full season.”

Davis may consider himself a 1,000-yard receiver, but he hasn’t actually reached that mark. He came close in 2020, catching 65 passes for 984 yards with five touchdowns after the Tennessee declined his fifth-year option. And Davis reached that mark in just 14 games, making it likely that if he had, in fact, played a full season, he would’ve reached 1,000.

But Davis, the No. 5 overall pick in 2017, was only truly the lead wideout with the Titans for one year: in 2018 when he caught 65 passes for 891 yards with four TDs. Then the Titans drafted A.J. Brown in the second round of the 2019 draft, and he’s produced back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to open his career.

Brown’s emergence also allowed the Titans to comfortably let Davis walk.

So Davis may have high expectations for himself as he transitions to the Jets. But no matter who’s throwing him the ball in the fall, Davis will have something to prove.