The Houston Texans are bringing back cornerback Vernon Hargreaves after waiving him on Feb. 14.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2016 first-round pick is coming back to the Texans on a one-year contract.
The Texans will also be bringing back cornerback Bradley Roby on a three-year, $36 million contract and also former Kansas City Chief cornerback Phillip Gaines, which gives Houston stability in the secondary.
Adding Hargreaves provides new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver the cornerbacks to develop a variety of coverages featuring Roby, Gaines, Hargreaves, Gareon Conley, and Lonnie Johnson.
What coach Bill O’Brien likes about Hargreaves is his diligent demeanor, which he got to see up close after Houston claimed the former Florida Gator off waivers on Nov. 13 of last season.
“We claimed him, he came in here, he works very hard,” O’Brien told reporters on Jan. 13. “Very hard worker, guy that really showed up to practice every day, learned the system. I don’t think that’s easy to be able to come in, in the middle of a season, and really later than that, and play that nickel position is not easy. So, I give a lot of credit to Vernon.”
Even with the second chance Hargreaves is going to get with the Texans, even in January, O’Brien acknowledged Hargreaves would have to step up his game.
Said O’Brien: “There’s a lot of things that he’s going to work hard to improve upon. We’re going to help them with that, but I think Vernon stepped into a tough situation and really made the best of it.”
Hargreaves collected 21 tackles, including a tackle for loss, and broke up two passes in his six games for the Texans, two of which he started. With a full offseason under his belt in the Texans’ system, Hargreaves should be able to provide more help to Houston’s secondary.
