The Tampa Bay Buccanneers aren't wasting any time. The Bucs made 4 trades and 2 cuts at the onset of the NFL's trading period. In one of the more surprising trades, Tampa Bay traded team leader and lifetime Buccanneer Ronde Barber to Carolina in exchange for a 6th round pick. Barber has obviously lost a step, but was still a starter and knows the "Tampa 2" better than just about anyone. Coach Raheem Morris had this to say: The Buccaneers also severed ties with former third round pick Jeremy Zuttah, shipping him out to Miami for a pair of mid-round picks. Zuttah never truly realized his potential in Tampa Bay, so perhaps a move cross-state could be what it takes to get his career on track. Tampa Bay also made a modest move to bring in a weapon for Josh Freeman in his collegiate teammate, Jordy Nelson. General Manager Vengeful Odin had this to say: Tampa Bay also quietly shipped out underacheiving DE Tim Crowder, as well as cutting backup kickers Sam Paulesca and Dirk Johnson.
Ronde asked us to keep him as close to Tampa as possible, as his daughters are in school and he didn't want to have to move them. We tried to respect that as much as we could.