The Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven’t gotten much positive play out of cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, who was the No. 11 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter was asked Monday if he’s concerned about the second-year player. He didn’t try and deflect the question.
Asked if he's concerned about CB Vernon Hargreaves, Dirk Koetter said "extremely." Hasn't been as aggressive or effective as they've wanted.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 16, 2017
We highlighted Hargreaves as a particularly big reason why Tampa Bay lost to the New England Patriots at home on Thursday night during Week 5, noting “Hargreaves was caught with his pants down in soft coverage, and Brady picked him apart.”
Things didn’t get any better for the defense Sunday as the Bucs were torched by Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals. Once again, Hargreaves was a big reason why.
So far this season, Hargreaves looks like a player who is regressing, rather than taking positive steps forward. In 21 career games now, all starts, last year’s highly touted first-round pick has managed to get his hands on all of 11 passes and has one interception. Now, interceptions aren’t the measure of greatness, but it’s clear quarterbacks are not only looking his way but are specifically picking on Hargreaves, who’s an easy target.
To that point, Pro Football Focus has graded Hargreaves as the sixth-worst cornerback out of 114 qualified candidates in the NFL this year.