Hargreaves Takes A Step Back
August 18th, 2017
Rough night
Last year, offensive coordinators leaguewide wanted to target passes toward cornerback Vernon Hargreaves rather than Brent Grimes on the other side of the Bucs defense.
Look for that trend to continue.
Hargreaves wowed Bucs fans and certainly opened eyes around the NFL with his athletic and intelligent red-zone interception against the Bengals last Friday. It was an All-Pro caliber play. But Hargreaves’ performance last night let everyone know that the second-year cornerback still has a lot to prove.
A subpar night against the lowly Jaguars, which included a pass interference call and getting beaten badly in the end zone by undrafted rookie receiver Keelan Cole (easy TD catch was dropped), won’t have any playcallers around the league sweating.
It was just one preseason effort, but the Bucs and fans expect huge things from Hargreaves this season. Hargreaves was the No. 11 overall pick in the draft. If you select a cornerback there, then he better become a true No. 1 corner in a hurry. Also, quality players typically make huge strides from their rookie seasons in Year 2.
Joe’s not down on Hargreaves, but in addition to becoming more of a playmaker, the Bucs need more consistency from him.
Joe will be watching to see how Hargreaves bounces back against the Browns next weekend. That could set the tone for how the Bucs are attacked by Miami on opening day.
August 18th, 2017 at 8:21 am
VHGIII looked a little bit lost on quite a few plays last night……not sure what was going on……
August 18th, 2017 at 8:23 am
Hargreaves was the number 11 pick last year, not 12th, but your point is valid.
Having said that, I would love to know the defensive assignment of the safeties on the play where Hargreaves got “beaten badly” by Keelan Cole. I highly doubt that on a red zone play the assignment was to have NO safeties in the end zone… that makes no sense to me. I’m pretty sure Hargreaves was expecting help up top from a safety, which happened the very next play when Conte was there and helped disrupt the catch by the receiver.
August 18th, 2017 at 8:24 am
Maybe Licht’s best pick. Can’t count Evans or Winston. Those were Lovie & Glazer picks.
VH3 is going to be a great player in this league for a long time.
August 18th, 2017 at 8:27 am
He seemed to be calling out Justin Evans after that play expecting him to have help over the top.
August 18th, 2017 at 8:34 am
If truth be told!!! Conte had another bad game, Some (and they are in the media as well) that will try to tell you he had a good game!!!!! That they saw him make a tackle in run support or he broke up a pass when he was 1 on 1!!! But there were several instances of when Conte was suppose to be covering “over” and had very late recognition and left people with the under coverage left out to dry!!!!! The guy makes 1 good play and then gives 2 bad ones!!!!!!! There is a reason free agents and high draft picks were brought in this year!!!!!! And I cannot wait to see them start!!!!!!!!!!!!
give me the rookie with potential over the vet that makes rookie mistakes!!!!!
August 18th, 2017 at 8:34 am
Baz-
It says 11.
The safeties on that play don’t matter so much.
He simply bit on the first slight move towards the outside. It was a bad mistake.
August 18th, 2017 at 8:47 am
Kinda sucks our 2 meaningful preseason games are versus the lowly Jags and Browns, hard to gage our team when facing such weak teams, it’s like Florida versus some division 2 teams
August 18th, 2017 at 8:52 am
We need to acquire a corner or two.
August 18th, 2017 at 8:53 am
Baz this is number 11… This is number 12…. re read Joes article and see which one he put…
August 18th, 2017 at 8:59 am
He originally had 12 and then changed it to 11 after he was corrected…
August 18th, 2017 at 9:03 am
Admittedly only watched the 1st half last night, but neither the Bucs nor Jags appeared to have any significant pass rush last night. Obviously put more stress on the secondary. VHIII looked like he was giving too much cushion on most pass plays … gut feeling is that he misses having Grimes’ veteran leadership back there. Wasn’t overly impressed with the Bucs’ defense overall, except for the LBs (looked to me like they did a better job stopping the run than in Game 1). Bortles made some very good passes BTW, which his receivers dropped time after time. Jags’ receivers coach probably kicked some butt this morning.
August 18th, 2017 at 9:16 am
Any news on Dotson’s injury?
August 18th, 2017 at 9:23 am
Possible Acquisition (s) – If we’re hit with a major injury at the position
Veterans
• *Trumaine Johnson (27) Salary Cap : $17M | Free Agency: 2018 (UFA) | Rams
• Joe Haden (28) Salary Cap : $23M | Free Agency: 2020 (UFA) | Browns
• *Richard Sherman (29) Salary Cap : $12M | Free Agency: 2019 (UFA) | SEA
• Vontae Davis (29) Salary Cap : $15M | Free Agency: 2018 (UFA) | Colts
• Sean Smith (30) Salary Cap : $15M | Free Agency: 2020 (UFA) |Raiders
• *Dominique Cromartie (31) Salary Cap : $11M | Free Agency: 2019 (UFA) | NY
Still on Rookie Contracts
• Kyle Fuller (25) Salary Cap : $3M | Free Agency: 2018 (UFA) | Bears
• Damarious Randall (24) Salary Cap : $2M | Free Agency: 2018 (UFA) Packers
August 18th, 2017 at 9:30 am
VHIII definitely didn’t flash, and hope he picks it up and consistently plays like he did last week. I need to go back and review how Robert McClain and the others did. Not impressed at all with third team pass D. Awful.
August 18th, 2017 at 9:32 am
Casey Morgan, thank you for seeing the “12” there too.
Originally Joe wrote 12th pick, and now apparently changed it to the correct 11.
August 18th, 2017 at 9:32 am
Luv, CB Sean Smith charged with felony assault. Won’t be playing for anybody for a while.
August 18th, 2017 at 9:50 am
Well now joe, you said we’re probably deepest at CB right now. But id say deep with subpar talent. Grimes is good, but 35. After that the rest are tosted more than bread
August 18th, 2017 at 9:57 am
Conte had a horrible game and was late on 2 deep passes to A robinson last night and Hargreaves was beaten badly by Arob and dropped sure TDs
August 18th, 2017 at 10:11 am
vh3 will be an adequate cb for bucs for 6 to 8 years like i have been saying all along. he is not a stud or future lock down cb. not one of lichts finer decisions there was much better value on the board. he’s adequate nothing more. bucs will need two starting cb within the next 18 months or so. i was hoping for ryan smith but he has not grabbed the bull by the horns.
August 18th, 2017 at 10:24 am
He got beat way to much!
Joe say what you want about the lowly jags but their receiver tandem-2 or 3 or even 4 guys with Westbrook is toward top in nfl
August 18th, 2017 at 10:35 am
DB and Safety play was not good last night. I was a little surprised by VHIII’s struggles.
Conte had some good plays and some bad. My question is what is Justin Evans doing? Once again, poor tackling, but this time it was poor angles too. We need these guys to get it right.
I guess that’s what the preseason is for.
August 18th, 2017 at 10:47 am
Buster Skrine would be a nice addition. He would be a great starting nickle and quality backup to Grimes/ VHIII.
Cornerback and defensive end are still HUGE weaknesses for this team.
Stack up next year!
August 18th, 2017 at 10:49 am
Jax receiving corps is one of the best in the NFL as is ours…..
Sure, VH3 got beat…..it happens….nothing to worry about….now, our safeties constantly being out of position…that’s another matter.
August 18th, 2017 at 10:57 am
Weird night, VH III was average and Smith was a wet blanket on some dang good receivers.
@Tampabaybucfan Safeties were garbage!
August 18th, 2017 at 11:02 am
Really wanted Laremy Tunsil instead of VH3 because as a Gators fan I saw this already, which is an average corner but not a top 12 pick
August 18th, 2017 at 11:05 am
My god, can someone break into @thebucsrealist house and steal every one of his exclamation point keys? Thank you.
August 18th, 2017 at 11:08 am
Rewatching game and 1st Ryan Smith looks good. Having a better night than Hargraves. Jags couldn’t move the ball until they started targeting VHIII.
August 18th, 2017 at 11:09 am
^^^ 1st half I meant
August 18th, 2017 at 11:18 am
WOW, blame it on the safeties?
Wish we spent a 3rd rd and picked up ronald darby like philly did. shutdown press corner with quick recovery speed
“VH3 butt cheeks get in the way”
Kobe Faker
August 18th, 2017 at 12:25 pm
you guys are nuts….VHG had solid coverage all night….the play where he got a PI was BS….
conte blow a coverage when the wr drop the TD….on his next target he purposely forced the wr to cut inside because he had safety help…and conte was almost late breaking up the pass….
@KOBE…HOW MANY TD’S DID HE GIVE UP LAST NIGHT?….”0″..THATS THE ONLY THING THAT SHOULD MATTER….GO BUCS!!!
August 18th, 2017 at 1:07 pm
Are we talking about the play where VHII had the outside route and Conte and the inside Post route? Thats the way it looked to me. You have no what coverage they were in nor what his responsibility on any given play is. just because he lined up over him doesnt mean he runs with him through the whole play. CB’s pass off coverage all the time.
August 18th, 2017 at 1:21 pm
I agree with Realist. Conte did have a bad game even though it was overshadowed by a couple JW3 mistakes and some blown defensive assignments. The problem is J Evans has a long way to go in the mental aspect of safety. The VH3 play that he got burnt on was on J Evans. He missed his assignment which actually happened 3 or 4 different times by my count. Also, the penalty on VH3 was tough for me to see since the ESPN cameras bit on the play-action more than any players in the game and replays were scarce.
August 18th, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Kenny Bell back on the streets where he belongs.
August 18th, 2017 at 1:54 pm
Saw the same thing and mentioned it last night.
Hargreaves actually got beat over the top twice. the 2nd time was another drop/knocked out by conte. but hargreaves was still burned.
Throughout the rest of the game he gave way too much cushion and allowed way to many catches in front of him due to that.
August 18th, 2017 at 5:00 pm
the lowly jags that put up 31 on the Pats 😉
August 18th, 2017 at 5:30 pm
not worried about vh3 allen robinson is one of the best in the league he’s gonna get open from time to time… conte on the other hand needs to be quicker in help over the top it’s the same story as last season… hopefully evans can progress rapidly soon or wilcox can be a upgrade because we can’t afford for mediocre safety play this season
August 18th, 2017 at 7:50 pm
I beg to differ! He didn’t get beat all night & when the ball was caught in front of him he tackled great. That Cole drop definitely looks like he was expecting safety help. He just let the WR have the post, as if he was expecting a person there. The pass interference was questionable as well. He was VERY tight coverage & even Gruden made a remark about it. So I think VH3 is vastly improved this yr.
August 19th, 2017 at 7:15 pm
Hargreaves was overmatched with the size of the Jaguars receiver.