When Vernon Hargreaves was drafted by the Buccaneers 11th overall in 2016, Bucs fans, and NFL experts alike, had lofty expectations for the young cornerback out of Florida. However, Hargreaves has not lived up to his potential so far. He struggled mightily in his first two seasons on the big stage, as he only has one career interception and was the only player to allow more than 1000 passing yards in 2016. The seven games he missed last year due to a hamstring injury did nothing to help his cause. Whether real or not, neither did the picture of him smoking “something other than a cigarette” that appeared on Instagram.
Yet, it is not like Hargreaves is the only one to blame for his struggles. Tampa Bay’s pass rush has been one of the worst in the NFL. Everybody and their grandma know that a bad pass rush will make any secondary look bad.
With the vastly improved defensive line, the only way to go for the Buccaneers’ secondary and Vernon Hargreaves is up. Whether he can finally get it together and find a way to deliver in his third year with the team remains to be seen, but odds are he will take a big jump this year. If he ends up having another year like the one he had in 2017, his tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be over rather sooner than later.
