Victor Hampton
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 197 lbs
Age: 22
College: University of South Carolina
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Even the biggest Bengals fans might not know the Victor Hampton story. Unless you bleed orange and black and love draft prospects, you probably don't know much about Victor Hampton. You're in luck, I happen to be one of those weirdo's that watches tape of prospects, and fans think lives in my parents basement and eats Totino's pizza rolls.
As an undrafted free agent, like all of his fellow UDFAs, he is a longshot to make the squad. He does have one thing on his side, that's talent. He is not an UDFA that was not selected because he cant play and is invited to be a camp body.
Hampton has a checkered past and teams passed on him because they didn't want to use a pick on a guy who might bring a distraction to camp. He even lost his starting job because of poor effort last year, even though he was clearly the most talented cover corner.
If you like Vontaze because he talks trash, well then you will love Hampton, as he is a chatterbox.
Hampton has great instincts from the CB position and is excellent at tracking the ball in the air. He needs to work on his consistency in his run support. He is not big enough to just throw his body at people, which he does, and he rarely wraps guys up.
I wont get into too much detail on his game play he will be one of the UDFA featured in my article that will come out right before camp. It will go over all of the UDFA with my typical play breakdowns and analysis. He played in 8 games as a junior totaling 43 tackles and 3 INTs. He did return some punts for South Carolina last year but didn't have much success, so I don't suspect that he will be used in the role for the Bengals.
Its going to be tough for him to crack this lineup at CB, especially with all the 1st rounder's in front of him. With Dennard, Jones, Newman, Hall, and Kirpatrick all locks to make the roster, that leave the rest of the guys to fight for likely one roster spot.
It will be quite the uphill battle for all of them. If Hampton stays out of trouble and shows flashes of his talent, it will come down to him and Westbrooks for the last spot. He will need to have success in the slot in his preseason games to win the last spot. That is the best spot for him to backup with his skillset, and his small build wont matter as much against smaller slot receivers.
If there is a sting of injuries, look for Hampton to have a real shot at the roster. A spot could open up if Hall is not fully recovered for the start of camp, let's hope it is not the case but that could be another way for a spot to open. Hampton may feel like Sisyphus in camp, but if he keeps putting in work he will at least get a spot on the practice squad, if not picked up by another team.
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