With Bucs training camp quickly approaching the PewterReport.com staff asks – and answers – 15 critical camp questions that need to be addressed this August as Tampa Bay prepares to embark on the 2019 season. Over the next 15 days PewterReport.com will offer up its thoughts on the topics that the Bucs will need to sort out in order for the team to be successful this season and possibly compete for a long-awaited playoff berth.

These are the things that the PewterReport.com staff will be following closely in camp, and invite our readers to share their thoughts as well in the comment section.

Who Will Start The Season At Cornerback For The Bucs?

While it will be one of the most interesting – and hotly contested competitions – in all of training camp, the initial nod will go to veteran Vernon Hargreaves III and second-year player Carlton Davis.

The Buccaneers are counting on Hargreaves to live up to his first-round billing after three disappointing seasons so far in Tampa Bay. However, the job won’t just be handed to him. The team didn’t draft four cornerbacks in the last two seasons to just sit on the bench. They are hoping to see the young players provide competition and at the very least, quality depth to a position that sees a lot of injuries over the course of a 16-game schedule.

Bucs CB Vernon Hargreaves – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

If Hargreaves can make it out of camp healthy, he should line up at one of the outside spots when the regular season kicks off in September. And fingers crossed, Hargreaves emerges as the player the team though they were getting when he was selected No. 11 in the 2016 NFL Draft. As of now, his one career interception and inability to stay healthy won’t guarantee that he keeps the spot, but even at age 24, Hargreaves is the most experienced cornerback on the roster.

Opposite Hargreaves will be Davis, entering his second year in the NFL, a season that saw a lot of ups and downs. Davis is a big, physical corner, who like Hargreaves, excelled in college by playing press-man coverage, which is something new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles will require his corners to play often. With a lot of blitzes expected, this scheme will be much different than what former coordinator Mike Smith taught, so in a sense, Davis will be starting from scratch. The thing that gives him the advantage over rookies Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy-Bunting is Davis has a familiarity with NFL receivers, particularly those in the NFC South that he battled against twice last season.

Bucs DBs MJ Stewart and Carlton Davis – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The nickel cornerback position is up for grabs, but it appears second-year player M.J. Stewart might be given the first crack as the starter. Stewart struggled with keeping up with opposing team’s slot receivers when matched up one on one last season, but in Bowles’ scheme the nickel will have a somewhat different role and could be the team’s primary blitzer, and will also be expected to hold up his end of things against the run. Stewart will also get some time at safety this camp which opens the door for a player like Murphy-Bunting to slide into the nickel corner role as well. Murphy-Bunting will be the primary challenger to Stewart to start at nickel.

Of all the camp battles, we expect this one to be heated and ultra-competitive, and a good one for fans to keep an eye on during the practices they attend.