Hargreaves Being Benched is Not Surprising

Against the Cardinals Bucs, CB Vernon Hargreaves was in the middle of another one of his lackluster games when HC Bruce Arians benched him in the middle of the 3rd quarter for lack of hustle on a particular play. It’s something fans have become familiar with when it comes to Hargreaves’s lack of effort. He has just 2 INTs, since 2016. So, what went wrong with former first-round pick out of Florida?

At Florida, Hargreaves was asked to play mostly man or press coverage, but when he was drafted by the Bucs, it was into a zone coverage type of defensive scheme. For three years he struggled, until this year when DC Todd Bowles was hired and gave all defensive players a clean slate. Hargreaves’s lack of effort was first noted in May when the media asked HC Bruce Arians why Hargreaves wasn’t practicing Arians replied: “go ask Hargreaves.”

Now nine games into this season, a change had to be made. Hargreaves is a liability, no matter if it’s zone or press coverage. It just so happens the Bucs have two rookies in Sean Murphy Bunting and Jamel Dean that are chomping at the bit for their chance. Dean, in particular, excelled against the Cardinals and had one of the better games out of any Buccaneer CB this season with an INT and several passes defended.

It’s time to move on from Hargreaves. Let him be some other team’s problem for nine million dollars.

This article is for Bucs Life member Brian Stephens, whose topic I selected. Thank you, Brian! Go Bucs.

Here is the play that Arians criticized Hargreaves and benched him for not "hustling". Bottom of the screen #28, you be the judge pic.twitter.com/m3W7AukjgC

— Nick Sitro ✌️ (@nicksitro) November 11, 2019