Is Vernon Hargreaves Worth a Look for the Eagles?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers just released their 2016 first-round pick (11th overall) CB Vernon Hargreaves III, from Florida.
As per usual, whenever a player with any kind of pedigree becomes available, the Eagles are mentioned by fans and/or media as a possible destination. Even more in this case, given Hargreaves plays CB and the Birds have suffered from subpar secondary play all year long.
Is he really worth signing?
The Bucs have a terrible pass defense. In fact, they’re ranked at 27 in pass defense efficiency by Football Outsiders for the 2019 season, which puts them 12 spots below Philadelphia. They’re also dead last in opponent pass yards per game, with a whopping 298 allowed. Hargreaves got benched (and repeatedly called out by HC Bruce Arians) for “lack of effort”, which is never a good sign. He was replaced by rookie third-rounder Jamel Dean halfway through his last game as a Buc after getting burned deep by Cardinals WR Christian Kirk, something the Eagles absolutely don’t need any more of in their defense.
Now, a change of scenery can always help revive a career. Many players need a move elsewhere to put their minds in the right place and fulfill their potential. Hargreaves received very high praise during his time at Florida, and many were surprised to see him slip out of the top-10, as he was considered to be the #2 CB in the class behind Florida State’s Jalen Ramsey. Right ahead of him, at the 10th overall pick, the Giants picked CB Eli Apple, who also needed a change of teams to play better as his time in New York was below average at best.
Vernon is a better, more explosive athlete than any CB in the current Eagles depth chart except Ronald Darby, and that alone might be enough to sway the front office and coaching staff into giving him a shot with the Birds. He was also the exact opposite of “lack of effort” at Florida, with his competitiveness is often regarded as his top attribute. For the first five or six games of this season, many thought he was coming into his own after some solid performances, but that form ultimately didn’t hold up.
Overall, Hargreaves should at least be worth a flier. He’s still only 24 years old and, while his NFL career hasn’t gone the way anyone expected, the talent is more likely than not still there.
Given the defensive struggles the Eagles have gone through, it would be a nice reclamation project for Jim Schwartz to try and recapture the college form of this once highly-touted athlete.
Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
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