Vernon Hargreaves Should Be Tampa Bay Buccaneers' No. 1 Draft Target Following 2016 NFL Combine

By Geoffrey Knox

For the first time in a long time, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were actually still a part of important football discussions towards the end of last season. Jameis Winston did as well as could be expected. He looked a lot wiser and more experienced than he actually is, and week in and week out, he led an impressive drive to make games more competitive or put the team in position to win.

It’s fair to say the Buccaneers exceeded expectations. Another scoring drive here rather than a punt or another stop on defense rather than giving up another score and we’re probably talking about a team coming off of a playoff season. This team played hard. Now, it’s time to discuss the possibility of adding some more talent to fill out those problem areas. One of the first areas of focus has to be in the secondary. Most of what they have is either getting a little long in the tooth or they’re young and untalented or just unproven. Enter Vernon Hargreaves.

A red flag presented itself immediately when Hargreaves ran the 40-yard dash in a little over 4.5 seconds. Talks have gone back and forth, but that shouldn’t keep him from being a first-round selection. Hargreaves jumped on a lot of NFL radars early following the 2013 Under Armour All-America Game where he was named the Most Valuable Player.

Hargreaves would commit the the Florida Gators, but he played under two different head coaches there. He dropped off of the radars of some as the Gators program struggled a little during that time, but for his career he notched 121 tackles and 10 interceptions. Hargreaves raises a question or two, but he can step in as a rookie and be just as good as some of the guys the Buccaneers have right now.

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