JD’s Moment

Bengals veteran nickel cornerback Jalen Davis didn’t notice on Monday.

Safety Jordan Battle had Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, an Alabama teammate, sign his No. 17 jersey after the game, and it was displayed on the chair in front of Battle’s locker.

Davis’ locker is next to Battle’s. It was Waddle who Davis was covering late in the third quarter Sunday when he made a textbook find-the-ball leaping interception, the first of his career in his eighth NFL season and 62nd game.

That would be Davis, an undrafted free agent of the Dolphins in 2018, vs. Waddle, the sixth pick in the 2021 draft.

“Best vs. the best,” Battle said. “You go up against Jaylen Waddle and catch a pick. That makes him one of the best, right?”

It certainly made him the center of his adoring teammates Sunday. Taylor calls him “a fan favorite,” in the locker room, and here’s why:

“He’s been with the Bengals since 2020 as a special teams regular during the playoff runs in 2021 and 2022, and a practice squadder the last two years. After getting called up for two games last year, he didn’t get the nod again until last month when Cam Taylor-Britt went down for the season.

Instead of turning to youth as they have lately, defensive coordinator Al Golden called on the 29-year-old Davis. He was already going with two rookie linebackers and felt he needed the experience. It meant moving Dax Hill from the inside to the outside to make way for Davis, and Hill has been so good out there they may very well have found one of their 2026 outside starting cornerbacks.

“(Davis) really settled us in. He gets lined up really quickly. He puts everybody at ease around him,” Golden said Monday. “People don’t realize how intertwined the nickel safety and linebackers are, pre- snap. We have a saying. The nickel drives the bus, and he does.

“He’s got to make great decisions. That’s what we needed at that point. We needed somebody who’s a veteran there. We couldn’t afford to have another guy that was kind of training on the job, And he really, he really settled us down, allowed the two young guys (linebackers) inside to take that next step, and took a took a chip off the plate of the safeties too.”

It’s been quite a five-game stretch. Along with that pick, Davis has racked up the first three starts of his career, the second sack of his career and the third pass defensed of his career. All the while playing 177 snaps. It’s more than double the most he’s ever played in a year, which was 72 in 2020.

“Personally, it’s the happiest moments of my life,” Davis said. “Eight years and I’m finally able to play some football. Be a starter out there.

“But it’s not the best time as a whole team. You want to be in the playoffs and play for a championship.”

Golden wondered aloud just how many transactions Davis has been through in his career. Local 12 digital sports columnist Richard Skinner showed Golden the list in the media guide, and even the NFL coaching vet gaped.

Davis working on his 21st NFL move.

“It’s a lesson for a lot of the young guys in the room. You just put your head down,” Golden said. “(You) could probably ask him how many times he’s been cut, signed to the practice squad, active roster, traded, all those things. Here he is, eight years into it. He’s pretty much at this point, guaranteeing a ninth.”

Now, Davis has some college cred and jokingly challenged the media to do its research when asked when his last interception came at Utah State.

“When I had three in a game,” Davis said.

Those were the last of the 11 in his career that day against Brigham Young, when he took two to the house from 30 and 50 yards. Three weeks before against Idaho State, he had two picks and took one 25 yards for a pick-six …