Tampa Bay Buccaneers love Tavon Austin

West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Tavon Austin has been one of the fastest rises in the pre-draft process, and a scintillating forty time has helped vault him into top-15 status. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could pull the trigger and bring in an impact corner to the Bay by acquiring Darrelle Revis from the New York Jets (that would cross off a big need in a big way), but talks could fall apart at any moment and the Bucs could just decide to stand pat. The asking price for Revis isn’t exactly a bargain, and teams like the Bucs don’t exactly like parting ways with top 15 picks either.

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The Buccaneers biggest need is at cornerback, and they should also take a strong look at adding a pass rusher to replace Michael Bennett. However, some are also tabbing wide receiver as a potential pick for the Bucs in the first round, and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King has added some heat to the Austin rumors. In his Monday Morning Quarterback column, King wrote that the Buccaneers “love” Tavon Austin.

He delivered some very notable nuggets about the Revis talks, and this note on Austin was an interesting one from a draft take. The Bucs are expected to draft a CB like Xavier Rhodes if they don’t get their top CB via a trade, so wide receiver is something of an outside-the-box option. Austin is mocked into the top ten by a few analysts nowadays, and while that is not an opinion I share, it serves to show that teams high enough on Austin could feasibly take him anywhere. Are the Bucs one of those teams? To be honest with you, I don’t think they are willing to bypass those pressing needs on defense for Austin.

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