Flying Vernon Hargreaves
June 6th, 2017
Monday magic
As the rain poured upon the fields of One Buc Palace yesterday, No. 28 soared through the air like a bald eagle swooping in on a mullet flopping out of the Gulf of Mexico.
(Of course, Joe is being ridiculously dramatic, but it’s June 6 and Joe is sick of watching more film of last year’s games.) The highlight from Buccaneers.com is right here. It’s cornerback Vernon Hargreaves (No. 28) breaking up a pass at yesterday’s practice intended for Chris Godwin.
Hargreaves is showing his cat-like quickness — through the play and the celebration.
The practice session was closed to media. Last week, a couple of practices were closed to media, too, and Dirk Koetter said Hargreaves was a star of those pad-free private workouts, aka underwear football.
Often, second-year players make a huge strides in their games, improving significantly from their rookie seasons. That’s typical of strong-work-ethic guys. Hargreaves just turned 22 and the Bucs brass believes Hargreaves is in that mold. He better be, as a No. 11 overall pick.
Hargreaves has the advantage of being drafted that high but still being a No. 2 cornerback on his team. So the pressure is not extreme on the former Florida Gators stud who just turned 22 years old.
Regardless, Joe hopes Hargreaves is feeling the heat and is rising to it.
Just imagine if Hargreaves proves he’s the real deal this season, while Brent Grimes continues to dominate.
June 6th, 2017 at 10:17 am
hope he steps up to the next level of being a high first round pick, was watching talib last night on the top 100, another buc blunder
June 6th, 2017 at 10:41 am
Well Joe….if you want us to “imagine”….
Imagine we actually produce a quality pass rush this year…Hargreaves and Grimes have career years…and Baker and big Stevie T plug up any running holes in our DL….and then our LB’s are free to run wild and make plays. What if Evans is the real deal at safety? I can imagine a LOT of cool things.
As jacked as I am about our offense…and it IS exciting…I’m not going to be shocked if the D actually turns out to be better than the O.
June 6th, 2017 at 11:02 am
VH3 is going to show why he was a high 1st round pick this year.
“If you can play ball, you can play ball”
June 6th, 2017 at 11:19 am
My faith has never wavered. Excited to see what year 2 looks like for him and excited to see some of Ryan Smith in preseason at corner
June 6th, 2017 at 11:24 am
Dusthty Rhothdes, did you mean drafting or banishing Talib? I was OK with both; when he got sent away he was just a bad situation away from shooting someone
June 6th, 2017 at 11:26 am
That’s it DR, keep accentuating the negative!
June 6th, 2017 at 11:46 am
I can’t wait. The leap from year one to year two should make a big difference. And, as Stpete alluded to, if we get a pass-rush, watch out!
June 6th, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Well said St. Pete
June 6th, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Very possible.
June 6th, 2017 at 12:13 pm
All Vernon Hargraves has to do is train with Brent Grimes wife and he will be good… she would push him to a new level!
June 6th, 2017 at 12:20 pm
I’ve seen seagulls eat french fries on the beach, but I’ve never witnessed a bald eagle scooping up a mullet in the gulf!
June 6th, 2017 at 12:48 pm
Osprey is a better choice, and it’s an eagle.
Joe is from the Midwest though.
Surprised he didn’t say a drunk pheasant.
June 6th, 2017 at 12:59 pm
or drunk peasant…
June 6th, 2017 at 1:37 pm
I think getting rid of talib was dumb…the dude is messed up in the medulla oblongata, but the bucs need some headbangers on the squad, im guessing now with addition of djax, the bucs have 3, with ayers and kwon, helping the matt ryans up off the ground is not what the team needs stepping on him to go run and make a play is what the team needs more of
June 6th, 2017 at 2:38 pm
heard VHG has been making INT’s and PB’s all offseason….VHG will be fine and will be our #1 CB after this year….GO BUCS!!!!
June 6th, 2017 at 3:02 pm
Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a combined 35 INTS last season. It’s not surprising that a lot of INTS are being thrown in camp. I want to see how many the CBs get during the season against other QBs.
June 6th, 2017 at 3:23 pm
You’ll find Bald Eagles scooping mullet in the bay between about November through March. It’s rare but it’s there.
June 6th, 2017 at 3:34 pm
VH3 flew under the radar in one aspect of his game. 76 total tackles.Only
Bradley Macdougald had more at 91 total tackles in the entire secondary.
Think about it,a corner with more tackles than our other starting safety.
June 6th, 2017 at 4:20 pm
Doosh, it’s obvious that you haven’t spent much time around the bald eagles that nest near Tampa Bay nor the Gulf of Mexico.
June 6th, 2017 at 4:25 pm
@bob…..that’s a great point!!
June 6th, 2017 at 5:17 pm
Thanks bucboi,
Also Vh3 and keith Tandy seemed to communicate and play well together
during the period where defense really stared to assert themselves.
June 6th, 2017 at 7:45 pm
@ LakeLand Buc
Jameis threw picks, but had VERY little receiving talent to throw to. And was only in his 2nd year!! His improvement alone was evident from rookie to 2nd year. With the new weapons, he will obviously throw fewer and I predict many fewer. Fitzpatrick has NEVER had a receiving core like this either. I wouldn’t heap praise on the DBs in underwear football, but I also think it’s unfair to negate the fact that VH3 is entering his 2nd year and will be better by default. With his desire to be great, which I think is obvious, he should be far better this year.
June 7th, 2017 at 7:56 pm
Undies football folks. I for sure think he’s gonna be upping his game this year, but we gotta wait and see. Waiting for him and R. Smith to get a few pic sixes this year :)!!