It makes sense that Davenport's overall snap count would go down as the defensive packages became more defined. At the beginning of the season four defensive linemen were all getting close to 80% or more of the snaps. In the Chicago game none of the defensive linemen were in for more than 69%. Davenport had the most defensive snaps at that 69% and then Jordan, Alonzo, Rankins and Onyamata. Edwards, Brown and Tuttle all had significant snaps. It appeared the package rotation was fully in place at that point.

In the Falcons game Jordan was the only lineman with over 54% of the defensive snaps. Seven other DL players were splitting time. The snap count of all the original four players with high counts had dropped significantly. Those players were all in the 70% plus range early on, then all dropped down into the 50% range, Henrickson jumped up in the same game that Davenport dropped down. Payton explained why.

You can expect to see more of Davenport IF the Panthers running game remains active, but if they get down big and go strictly to the pass you may see the same result again. Personally, I doubt Carolina will abandon the run to that degree even if they get down early. McCaffrey is too important a part of their game to completely take the ball out of his hands on the ground.