Team releases Hargreaves instead of paying option

When the Texans picked up cornerback Vernon Hargreaves off waivers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, they hoped that a change of scenery would revive his career.

His performance ultimately wasn't enough for them to retain their starting nickel back for the 2020 season.

The Texans have released the former firstround draft pick instead of paying his $9.594 million fifth-year option. The option would have become fully guaranteed on the first day of the league year in March.

The Texans cut Hargreaves for financial reasons, but league sources unauthorized to speak publicly say they haven't ruled out the possibility of him coming back at a lower price depending on what else is available to them in free agency and the NFL draft.

But for now, the Texans have moved on.

Hargreaves didn't grade out particularly high for the Texans. He got picked on by tight end Travis Kelce during a 51-31 AFC divisional round playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He finished the regular season with 21 tackles, one for a loss and two passes defensed for the Texans.

Overall, for the season, including his time with the Buccaneers, Hargreaves had 54 tackles and one interception. He allowed 65 catches on 88 targets for a 47.5 Pro Football Focus analytics grade.

Hargreaves, the 11th overall pick of the 2016 draft out of Florida, was cut by the Buccaneers after coach Bruce Arians questioned his effort and said he didn’t hustle on a long touchdown allowed. That was the final straw for the Buccaneers.

The Texans had no issues with Hargreaves’ work ethic, praising his contributions throughout the season while making no commitments toward him for the future.

“Vernon came in here, he works very hard," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said at the close of the season. "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. 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.”