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.

23 Responses to “Flying Vernon Hargreaves”

  1. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    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

  2. Stpetebucsfan Says:

    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.

  3. Pickgrin Says:

    VH3 is going to show why he was a high 1st round pick this year.

    “If you can play ball, you can play ball”

  4. Lord Cornelius Says:

    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

  5. SCBucsFan Says:

    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

  6. Piratic Says:

    That’s it DR, keep accentuating the negative!

  7. Bucsfanman Says:

    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!

  8. dooshlarue Says:

    Well said St. Pete

  9. Cobraboy Says:

    Very possible.

  10. nate12345 Says:

    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!

  11. Dewey Selmon Says:

    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!

  12. Dooshlarue Says:

    Osprey is a better choice, and it’s an eagle.
    Joe is from the Midwest though.
    Surprised he didn’t say a drunk pheasant.

  13. Ghingus Kwon Says:

    or drunk peasant…

  14. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    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

  15. 813bucboi Says:

    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!!!!

  16. LakeLandBuc Says:

    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.

  17. 74 Bucs Fan Says:

    You’ll find Bald Eagles scooping mullet in the bay between about November through March. It’s rare but it’s there.

  18. Bob in valrico Says:

    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.

  19. BucinJAX Says:

    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.

  20. 813bucboi Says:

    @bob…..that’s a great point!!

  21. Bob in valrico Says:

    Thanks bucboi,
    Also Vh3 and keith Tandy seemed to communicate and play well together
    during the period where defense really stared to assert themselves.

  22. DRFEELGOOD Says:

    @ 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.

  23. SOEbuc Says:

    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 :)!!