Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Vernon Hargreaves on road to redemption
By Cory Kinnan
What to expect from Hargreaves in 2019
Should Arians and Bowles chose to go with the bigger bodies outside the numbers for the Tampa Bay defense, Hargreaves will still see valuable playing time in the nickel, where he played for most of his second year when healthy. Besides, in today’s NFL, nickel cornerbacks are treated and paid like starters as a guy like Justin Coleman was just paid $9 million per year by the Detroit Lions to fill their nickel role.
Hargreaves is off to a much better jump with this new regime and under his second chance with the Buccaneers. As Bowles is looking to run more press, man coverage, Hargreaves should continue in a scheme that better fits his skill set as a cornerback; former defensive coordinator Mike Smith ran a heavy zone dependent scheme, less than ideal for a player like Hargreaves.
As Bowles runs multiple defensive back sets frequently, expect Hargreaves to line up outside, in the nickel, and wherever else Bowles’ creativity takes him. The Buccaneers’ defense was near the bottom of the league last year, but this year they are flying around and making plays on the football.
Next. Buccaneers 3 standouts from training camp day four. dark
It is up to Hargreaves to keep up the hard work and continue to carry the first ounce of momentum he has had in his career throughout the rest of camp and the preseason. With a fresh start under Arians and Bowles, Hargreaves looks to be coming to life for the Buccaneers… finally.