Houston Texans News: Texans Release Vernon Hargreaves III

I wrote the following last offseason, when the Houston Texans decided to re-sign Vernon Hargreaves III:

Hargreaved started every game at cornerback for the Texans in 2020. He allowed a completion percentage of 68.2%, 12.4 yards a completion, 6 touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 109.1 when he was targeted. He was the singular domino. With Conley out and Roby suspended, the depth past Hargreaves was forced to play as well. Behind him were Phillip Gaines and Keion Crossen starting at outside cornerback. Eric Murray forced to play the slot. The Texans’ pass defense tumbled into the cellar even with J.J. Watt starting every game. Houston finished 29th in pass defense DVOA.

The Texans did not learn lessons from any of this. New general manager Nick Caserio was not here when these previous failures occurred, but he’s allowing them to continue. Rather than cut bait and sign someone, anyone, anyone at all, who would be an improvement over Hargreaves, someone who could offer some scant probability of being something more than a fifth cornerback on a bad pass defense, the Texans decided to bring Hargreaves back again, presumably because he’s a former first round pick, because he fits the insidious culture, because he’s nice, or whatever ridiculous reason they could come up with.

The Texans did not only welcome disaster back into their lives. They tied themselves to the train tracks. They traded Bradley Roby to the Saints before the season started for a third and sixth round pick, forcing Hargreaves upon us in the starting lineup. Aside from peeling off in Cover Two to pick off Trevor Lawrence in Week One, Hargreaves has played as you’d expect. He’s been benched for Desmond King, Tavierre Thomas, Tremon Smith, and every other cornerback the Texans have.

This morning, however, the nightmare finally came to an end. For the first substantive time since they added him from the waiver wire via Tampa Bay back in 2019, the Texans no longer employ Vernon Hargreaves III.

Get ready for Cre’von LeBlanc and Jimmy Moreland to make their debuts as Houston tries to navigate through a VH3-less world.