Vernon Hargreaves III may be a rookie in the Tampa Bay Bucs' offense, but he sure looks to not be playing like it. On Monday after one of the first sessions of Training Camp for the Bucs, Tampa head coach Dirk Koetter confirmed that Hargeaves has done so well that he's already going to take reps with the first-team defense.
"He'll start rotating in there with the first group," Head Coach Dirk Koetter said via Buccaneers.com after practice on Monday. "As I said in the spring, the guy is a good football player, he's going to play. He's doing a nice job, his athleticism shows up every day. That doesn't mean at all that we're disappointed in Jude because Jude is doing a good job, too. We're building our depth at corner especially. I like what we're seeing out of those guys."
Hargreaves was drafted by Tampa with the No. 11 overall pick in the first round of this year's NFL Draft. Bucs defensive coordinator added after practice on Monday that they play to rep Hargreaves at both cornerback and the nickel position during camp and into the preseason.
"Once we feel like he's got a comfort level inside, we'll give him some snaps on the outside," defensive Coordinator Mike Smith said via Buccaneers.com. "We know that he has played at the corner position, and at the inside corner there are a lot of nuances and we're trying to get him up to speed on that."
[H/T: Buccaneers.com]
