Arians: VHIII Needs To Step Up
October 8th, 2019
Coach wants better.
It was a rough Sunday for Bucs cornerback Vernon Hargreaves.
If Saints receiver Michael Thomas wasn’t juking Hargreaves out of his jock for a touchdown, Thomas was stealing his lunch money and tossing Hargreaves into the gutter while policemen (zebras) watched and laughed.
And yesterday while speaking to the local pen and mic club in his day-after presser, Bucco Bruce Arians acknowledged the Bucs must get better play from a former first-round pick.
“I’d like to have better,” Arians said of Hargreaves’ play. “I think he’s capable of better. He’s got great hands, he’s got great anticipation, he’s a very smart player, so yeah, I would expect a little bit more.”
Joe likes Hargreaves, but it seems there is a fair body of work already on Hargreaves to determine he’s not a top-shelf shutdown corner. Hargreaves has made incredible plays, but he’s too inconsistent to believe he is a No. 1 corner. Shoot, twice on Sunday Arians said Carlton Davis is the team’s best corner.
Now Joe isn’t trying to run Hargreaves out of town. But does anyone trust Hargreaves can snap to it in the remaining 11 weeks of the season and play tight defense consistently? Sure, he could, but isn’t that a leap of faith?
Joe will state once again, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht really needs to find a corner before the trade deadline expires on Oct. 29.
Unless the Bucs are good sacrificing the season to give every player a full 16 games to demonstrate whether they’re worthy to return next season, Joe doesn’t know how anyone could look at Team Glazer square in the eye and say this current collection of cornerbacks is good enough to help the Bucs make a wild card run.
When a team like the Saints changes its offense specifically to go after Bucs corners, that’s all you need to know.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:06 am
I think we’ve seen enough to determine that he just isn’t THAT guy. He’s made some plays but he’s missed more than he’s made. We didn’t see it as much when the d-line was pressuring but it is painfully obvious now that you look back.
We’re already thin at DB so I don’t think we can get rid of him. Nickel is probably best suited for him but you don’t draft a guy in the 1st round to be Nickel.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:08 am
no doubt he has to play better……and i’ll add whitehead into that mix as well….hard hitter but suspect in coverage especially against TE’s…..
a better pass rush would certainly help…..
GO BUCS!!!!!!
October 8th, 2019 at 8:08 am
That is exactly how the Bucs have screwed up their roster in the past-
Trading draft picks for overpriced washed-up veteran players.
Bucs are 2-3. They can beat Carolina again if they contain McCaffrey again.
3-3 not bad heading into bye and time to heal up.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:21 am
Didn’t he say that already ?
October 8th, 2019 at 8:21 am
Hes a SLOT corner!! Too small and slow to play outside in this league.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:22 am
Joe, any idea if Justin Evans will play this year? I saw a recent post of his where he looked like he was in the hospital and his leg was bandaged up.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:23 am
Vh3bust has been without doubt the worst player on the field for both teams every game this year outside of 2 lucky plays…. he’s the midget-receiver chaser not a cover cornerback
October 8th, 2019 at 8:25 am
Easy
He’s a convenience store assistant stock boy impersonating a football player. Slot my arse…. he’s a liability just being on the roster
October 8th, 2019 at 8:29 am
I blamed VHIII for a poor missed tackle against the Saints, when it was Sean Murphy-Bunting. If we could somehow acquire Patrick Peterson…Wishful thinking.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:31 am
Pablo remembers when Ariana called out OK Howard a couple weeks ago..
October 8th, 2019 at 8:34 am
The defense as a whole needs to play better. ALL OF THEM. I was hoping SMB or dean would be on the outside with Davis an move VH3 to the inside. We got a small sample of what vh3 looks like on the inside last year an he did look good before the injury. I know we didn’t draft him to play inside but honestly it’s basically a starting position these days an some times things just fall that way. If he DOES play better inside then put him in a position to be successful.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:44 am
Licht does not know how to build a team. We have the proof, we don’t need no whistleblower. Look at his won loss record. He hasn’t been able to build a winner, he never will.
October 8th, 2019 at 8:50 am
Maybe moving to the opposite side and playing against the Two’s mostly will
allow him to be “best cover corner” for a week. Davis is tied for third in league in penalties. The other top 10 people are either O lineman or tight ends. This is unacceptable,
October 8th, 2019 at 9:06 am
Saints have showed the rest of the NFL the blueprint on how to beat us. Take ME13 out of the game and use your DL aggressively to make Winston beat you.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:07 am
Bob … Interesting info about Carlton Davis. Not a good look on his part, but I would think that’s something that could be coached out of a CB, over time. Not sure that moving VHIII to the opposite corner would help though. OCs would just scheme the other way because ‘slow is slow, and it’s easiest to go after the slowest in the herd’.
What Arians said about VHIII is interesting … ‘great hands, great anticipation, smart’. He’s also a fairly good tackler IMO (practice makes perfect?). Sounds to me like he’s much better suited for nickel than outside.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:13 am
bucnole … I agree with you about ‘the blueprint’, however, the Saints are one of only a handful of teams in the NFL who can pull that off. Their DLine is one of the best IMO, and that’s where it all starts. Their LBs & Secondary are adequate but not spectacular. If our OLine had been able to handle them like they handled the Rams the result Sunday might have been quite different. And for their part, the Saints’ OLine is also one of the best IMO. They stood tall and kept Bridgewater clean all game. THAT’S impressive against our DLine that had been getting fairly decent pressure. IOW, the game was really won (and lost) in the trenches Sunday. Whodathunkit huh?
October 8th, 2019 at 9:20 am
Don’t see anything wrong with shipping VHIII and one of our two under utilized tight ends to another team in exchange for a a true starting corner.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:27 am
Vh3 is untradable. Bench him for good and cutting him will save us from his 5th year contract. In the meantime, let SMB ginger his lumps because he can’t any worse. Vh3 is still running after Saints receivers all the back to Tampa.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:33 am
Pete Mitchell who’s going to want our garbage. Why not send Hargreaves for von Miller.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:34 am
He apparently had surgery recently. Joe’s not banking on him playing this year. He may, please don’t be confused but Joe has written the guy off.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:38 am
Justin Evans? Another Licht bust.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:40 am
Ole stale biscuit is wrong again!!!!!!!!!!! It was licht weight who did not step up!!!!!!!!!! And some of the sheep are just finally figuring it out!!!!!!!!!!!! What happened to all the ” hold them accountable”???????????
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 8th, 2019 at 9:43 am
“2024
That’s when we get a new GM
My Dads hands are clean
He sleeps in my Grandmoms basement with a clean conscious
He has fought the good fight but
The Gump apologist broke him down
2024
Be Patient”
Son of Kobe Faker
October 8th, 2019 at 9:46 am
Well.. he says good hands, smart, hood anticipation, but needs to play better.. Guess if there was ever any doubt we now know who he was calling soft
October 8th, 2019 at 9:56 am
VHIII just isn’t talented enough to cover #1 NFL wr’s. Short, slow and I guess smart is no way to go around life as an NFL corner. Shoutout to Dean Wormer.
Davis is pretty good and has a chance to improve but I’d feel better if he was our #2.
A Patrick Peterson would do the trick. Go get him even if you have to move OJ Howard. Auclair can fill his blocking duties and Tanner Hudson can more than fill his receiving duties.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:57 am
In all Bowles’ “wisdom”, and all of BA’ s supposed credentialed background on strategy/game planning…it certainly seemed that the collective “braintrust” thought that a 5’10” dwarf, could and should cover a 6’4″ beast AT ANY POINT. Slot..or no slot position, which btw they move Thomas around about 30-40% of the time, how in the h3ll was that dwarf witless punk from UF going to cover Thomas!?! Completely proves their blind foolishness to scheme, concept. You put Carlton Davis on Thomas, and shadow over the top Whitehead or whomever else rotating with Minter underneathand Davis over the top!?!?!! These fools all week long came to that idiotic decision, that the flat-footed dwarf…was gonna pull that off. And they thought, that was the best they could come up with. #1-3 AT every year in receptions, and…THAT..was the game plan!?!! Yup.
Cook ain’t doing squat at TE, then just schmoe Ginn,…you START THE GAME taking away Thomas, letting perhaps Kamara get some, the address that during. But…you DON’T…DONT..let Bridgewater get comfortable by going to Thomas early and often, “covered” by the hobbit only.
Completely idiotic game planning over an entire week.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:19 am
He’s got all the talent and skills what he doesn’t have is the testicular fortitude to be a top corner. No doubt he was the guy BA was thinking of when he said some of our corners are just soft him and Mike Edwards. I still cant get over Edwards sidestepping a tight end on that goal line touchdown. It was the perfect opportunity to lay a hit.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:43 am
You don’t draft Jamel Dean and Sean Bunting early in the draft just so you can make a trade for somebody else to take these guys’ reps. How are they going to get better Ryan Smith has proven that he’s better than Hargreaves. Carlton Davis is coming along well… Bunting notched an INT, Dean is getting healthy. Let these young players earn their time and see if they can make a difference.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:50 am
Vh3 should have been a 3rd or 4th round pick that is if hindsight was 20/20.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:51 am
Herp derp i iz wetodded
October 8th, 2019 at 10:52 am
Officially a failed prospect. Getting owned by quality WRs despite playing his preferred style of coverage. I’m not a big ncaa guy but I recall a similar narrative vs top wideouts when @ UF. He’s a long term backup somewhere starting next year, possibly sooner if Jamel Dean ascends or the light comes on for Sean M-B
October 8th, 2019 at 11:00 am
Everyone knew Hargreaves was going to suck in the NFL except for Licht. And a few blind Gator fans
October 8th, 2019 at 11:04 am
Hargreaves feet look stuck in the mud when these wideouts blow by him .Hes never defending,always three yards behind.I guess we are just sticking a fork in the season because there seems to be no movement to get a decent corner in here.
I don’t see Ryan smith as a soloution or Jamel dean.Someone step up and prove me wrong !
October 8th, 2019 at 12:15 pm
Always trailing the receiver… very rarely in a position to make a play on the ball. Time to move on from Vern.
October 8th, 2019 at 1:04 pm
Oh look, rhealist comes out of hiding after we lose.
October 8th, 2019 at 3:34 pm
He can go on the wall with Kenyatta, Jaquez, Anthony and now Hargraves
October 8th, 2019 at 3:51 pm
He belongs in the slot. And leave him there.
October 8th, 2019 at 7:44 pm
Posted it here, the day we drafted them.
VH3 and Noah Spence are both too small and too slow.
Yup, still true.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:23 pm
TRADE VH + #1 AND #2 FOR JALEN RAMSEY … OR MAYBE VH + #2 FOR PATRICK PETERSON ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!