Vernon Hargreaves Will Not Win the 2015 Chuck Bednarik Award
The Maxwell Football Club announced its pre-season candidates for the 77th Maxwell Award and the 21st Chuck Bednarik Award and to no one’s surprise, Vernon Hargreaves III made the Bednarik watch-list.
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The standout, former 5-star corner back for the Florida Gators was a lock to make the list, as he is without a doubt the best defensive back in the country.
It’s also all but certain that this will be the final season for Hargreaves in Gainesville, as he projects as a lockdown, top-5 pick in next year’s NFL Draft.
Related: Hargreaves will be a top-5 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft
But when it comes to the Bednarik Award in 2015, I don’t think Hargreaves is the favorite for the award.
In fact, I don’t think he’ll even be in the top-5 by the end of the season.
As a corner back, Hargreaves is the second farthest defensive position player from the ball, with the safeties obviously being last.
Hargreaves will have limited opportunities to be anywhere near the ball should opposing offenses choose to throw his way.
Oct 18, 2014; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators defensive back Vernon Hargreaves III (1) works out prior to the game against the Missouri Tigers at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
On top of that, I believe that the SEC offenses like Georgia and LSU will pound the Gators defense with heavy doses of the running game, neutralizing Hargreaves and the talented UF secondary.
Even if the Gators see high amounts of passes on defense, Hargreaves won’t be getting those looks.
His coverage style is more of a shutdown corner back, rather than baiting the quarterback into throwing interceptions.
Hargreaves did have three interceptions and 13 pass defenses in 2014 but the SEC won’t be as foolish to test the All-American as often.
I believe that offenses will treat Hargreaves the same way NFL offenses treated Darrelle Revis from 2008-2012; they’ll simply look at other parts of the defense to pick on and ignore Hargreaves.
What’s more, since its inception in 1995 to last year, there have only been three defensive backs to win the Chuck Bednarik award: Charles Woodson in 1997, Patrick Peterson in 2010 and Tyrann Mathieu in 2011.
Simply put—linebackers and defensive linemen are closer to the football and have more opportunities to make plays on ball-carriers.
Check out the insane stat lines that the past winners have put up: Scooby Wright III had 153 tackles and 14 sacks; Aaron Donald had 28 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles; Even Mathieu had to force six fumbles, recover four of them and score two touchdowns to win the award.
That’s why I think Hargreaves will have a great year defensively but it may not be expressed in the hardware he does or doesn’t win at the end of the year.
It’s no knock on Hargreaves though, as there’s only so much he can do as a corner whose main responsibility is to shut down the opponent’s best receiver.
But if anyone can pull off the upset and win the Bednarik Award, Vernon Hargreaves III may just be the Gator to do so.
What do you think? Will Vernon Hargreaves win the Chuck Bednarik Award in 2015? We want to know!
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