Buccaneers set to unleash young cornerbacks vs. Panthers

Vernon Hargreaves and M.J. Stewart continue to struggle, and with Sean Murphy-Bunting already getting playing time, Jamel Dean is next for the Buccaneers.

Bunting, Davis, and Dean, oh my. No, it doesn’t roll off the tongue quite like lions, tigers, and bears, but it will do for fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers here very soon. The three young corners seem poised to be unleashed soon as, while Carlton Davis has already been a starter (and the best cornerback on the defense), Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean look to see some extended playing time moving forward.

The secondary for the pewter and red has not been very good through the first five games of the 2019 season, and it seems like head coach Bruce Arians is ready to make some changes. When discussing the third rounder in Dean in his press conference yesterday, Arians stated that “He’ll play.”

Rookie second-round pick Sean Murphy- Bunting made his first big play of his career last week catching a deflected interception for the Bucs. It seemed as though he had taken over the starting nickel corner role last week against the Saints, then took over outside the numbers when Davis was ejected for a helmet-to-helmet hit on tight end Jared Cook.

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Even after picking up his fifth year option and showing immense confidence in him, Vernon Hargreaves has still had his struggles as the top guy on the outside, and last week was just the latest example of him getting toasted by opposing receivers. At this point it is even hard to tell if he will be around for that fifth year with the Buccaneers, despite that fifth year option.

You would have to assume that means he plays on the outside with Davis when he is in pushing Hargreaves into the slot with rookie Murphy-Bunting. This scenario would take away most of the snaps for M.J. Stewart, who seemed to be displaced last week until Davis’ ejection.

With the size and strength of Dean, and Arians stating that he will play this week, the only logical explanation would be that he wants to play more hard-nosed, press man coverage. This seems logical given his comments after the game on Sunday where the pewter and red secondary allowed over 400 yards passing to Saints’ backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

"”We have been at times, but we still are too soft. We’re too soft. I don’t know any other way to put it. When we’re in press man … Now, we’ve got some guys that are getting after it but we’ve got some guys that are just soft” (Arians via Pewter Report)"

The next question would be, how are the snap counts going to work between Hargreaves and Murphy- Bunting? Would the Bucs slowly phase out the veteran and let the rookie take over, are they just about fed up with the 2016 first round pick, or would they let Hargreaves get his confidence back in the slot?

What we do know is the addition of Dean can only help a secondary that has struggled mightily over the past three weeks. His presence will allow for more versatility in the back end and let defensive coordinator Todd Bowles get more creative.

With a bye week coming up after London, we could see a lot of different variations in the back end for the game against the Tennessee Titans. For now, it seems like Arians is ready to let the young guns roll in Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean, and to be honest, the results could not be much worse, so why not?