The New York Giants’ secondary is young and challenged at the moment and could use another experienced hand until all of their rookies and younger players get up to speed.
That being said, there’s no room for cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, who was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tuesday.
Why? The Giants are in bad enough shape without bringing in a player whose heart isn’t in his work.
“After thoughtful consideration over the past few weeks, coach [Bruce] Arians and I came to the conclusion that we needed to make this change,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said in a statement. “Decisions such as this are always difficult, but I felt it was in the best interest of our team to part ways with Vernon at this time and allow him to explore other opportunities. We are disappointed that it did not work out here for Vernon and we wish him continued success moving forward.”
Hargreaves’ standing with the team saw its first significant in-season warning sign over the weekend, when Arians benched the cornerback due to a lack of hustle. This came months after Arians held Hargreaves out of an OTA session because he felt as if the defender wasn’t ready to participate.
#Bucs HC Bruce Arians said he benched CB Vernon Hargreaves (#28) on Sunday because he didn't "hustle" trying to make a tackle. Today, Hargreaves was waived.
Here's the play Arians was talking about:pic.twitter.com/aObzciNgQV
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) November 12, 2019
Hargreaves was the 11th overall pick out of Florida in the 2016 NFL Draft and has not lived up to his draft status. The Giants have already passed on him once when they selected Eli Apple directly in from of Hargreaves in that draft, so it makes no sense why they would want him now.
The Giants already have Janoris Jenkins on their roster, a veteran whose effort has been questioned at times as well this season. At the current time, the Giants have three young corners they are developing – DeAndre Baker, Sam Beal and Corey Ballentine and are planning on getting them into the mix along with another rookie, Julian Love, so there aren’t many reps for Hargreaves even if they decided to pick him up.