(Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-US PRESSWIRE)

The Buccaneers must turn in their final 53-man roster by 9pm on Friday and there will be some players not on that roster that will have been painful cuts. Two of those players are safety Larry Asante and running back Mossis Madu.

Painful has an ambigious meaning here, as the players cut will likely be notable for their names rather than their production. Asante is a name more so than he is a producer on this team and that’s reason him being cut is worthy of mention. He was a starter at times for the Bucs and any time a former starter goes, it’s a notable thing.

But there’s reasons for why he’s not a starter anymore and a lot of those reasons parallel with why he was cut.

However, sometimes players that do have potential need to go just to save space. Mossis Madu is a victim of this as the Bucs just didn’t see what they wanted to out of him despite the speed element he brought to the roster.

Madu was in competition with rookie Michael Smith and the Bucs were more impressed with Smith’s overall ability outside of the run game. While Madu was a speed specialist, Smith showed that he could return the ball and that ultimately was a deciding factor in keeping him over Madu.

The Bucs have plenty of more cuts to come, so stay tuned to The Pewter Plank for the latest roster news as the Bucs trim theirs down to the final 53 men.