Quick Hits: Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NFL Thoughts for April 20, 2013 (Tank Carradine, Darrelle Revis, and More)

Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Here are some of the stories hitting the web today that could affect the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the coming days.

• Florida State defensive lineman Tank Carradine ran an impressive 40-yard dash at his Pro Day in Tallahassee. The shocking part of this story is Tank running at all. He had surgery in December to repair a torn ACL, and is now hitting the turf and running 4.75 second 40-yard dashes. The Buccaneers have not shied away from knee injuries recently, and if Carradine were healthy, he would have likely been the top pass rushing prospect in the draft. Read NFL.com’s brief breakdown of Carradine’s draft status here.
• Pro Football Talk told us more of what we already know about the Darrelle Revis trade situation. Essentially, Mr. Florio is reporting that the Buccaneers and Jets are quickly approaching a deadline at which it becomes too late for the Buccaneers to give Revis a physical and feel safe about giving up tons of cash and picks to acquire the Pro Bowl corner. He goes so far as to put a deadline on getting the trade done: Monday, April 22nd. It’s unlikely anything will be reported on Monday unless some media member has a particularly strong source, but keep an eye out this week. Negotiations are approaching an end, because once the draft kicks off, it’s extremely unlikely we’ll see the Buccaneers and Jets finalizing a deal involving so many picks and such a huge investment of money from Tampa Bay.
• Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com’s NFC South Blog did a breakdown of the Buccaneers’ schedule, found here. One interesting note Pat makes is that the Buccaneers will likely not face any harshly cold weather games. There are a pair of games that could be somewhat chilly, but the Florida acclimated Buccaneers won’t be heading to a frozen tundra in 2013. He also points out that the Buccaneers have the “easiest” schedule in the NFC South based on last seasons’ records for opponents, which is a result of the Buccaneers finishing “last” in the division on tie-breakers. However, “easy” means next to nothing in a preseason schedule ranking sense
• Pat also posted an article stating that the Buccaneers would “look bad” without Revis in 2013. He breifly mentions how it would impact the defense, but mainly focuses on how the Buccaneers have money, and fans believe the Glazers don’t care about the team, refuse to spend money, and don’t have any star power on the team. The line of thinking is that Revis proves the Glazers are “serious” about the team, and would put fans in seats. I feel this is a pretty simple way of looking at it, as most Buccaneer fans know that players like Vincent Jackson, Dashon Goldson, and even youngsters like Lavonte David Doug Martin are either stars or budding stars in this league. Revis is an elite player who is widely known, but if the Bucs mortgage their future for a big name, they may pay for it down the line. As I discussed in an earlier article, the price for Revis is not only draft picks, and not only salary cap, but a combination of both of these assets. A few more casual fans will show up to games if Revis is in town, but if it hamstrings the team in the future, I just don’t think it’s worth it. Hopefully the delay in the trade is due to Mark Dominik holding out for a more realistic and reasonable trade offer.

That’s it for today’s thoughts. What news in the NFL and the NFL Draft have you seen that may impact the Bucs? Let us know in the comments.