The Houston Texans Release Vernon Hargreaves

The Houston Texans released cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, III whose contract was set to be guaranteed on March 18th.

The Houston Texans will part ways with cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, III heading into the 2020 season. Hargreaves was claimed by the Texans mid-season after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers parted ways with him due to performance. There is an outside chance the Texans find a way to bring back Hargreaves to a lower contract number even after his release. 

The Texans claimed Hargreaves and added him to the secondary and the started at their nickel position. 

On March 18th, Hargreaves' 2020 salary becomes fully guaranteed, worth $9.594 million. His contract number was prohibitive for the Texans heading into the off-season and now his available cap will be used to address the position heading into the off-season. 

At the end of the season, head coach Bill O'Brien was complimentary of Hargreaves coming to Houston and working. Signs pointed to the Texans keeping Hargreaves around for the coming season. 

"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," O'Brien said of Hargreaves at the end of the season, "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."

Hargreaves spoke highly of the Texans when he arrived and was pleased with how things were going with his time with the organization. He even went as far as saying towards the end of the regular season that he wanted to stay with the organization heading into 2020. 

"For me, it's just playing hard trying to earn a contract here," Hargreaves said in mid-December. "This where I am, this is where I want to be."

The move comes as a cost-cutting move for the Texans and it opens the door for changes once again to a young secondary group. 

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