2013 NFL Draft: Rang -- Tank Carradine 'interesting pick' for Giants

Count Rob Rang of CBS Sports as another NFL Draft analyst who has hopped aboard the Tank Carradine to the New York Giants train. Rang visited with John Schmeelk Wednesday morning on the 'Big Blue Kickoff Live' show on Giants.com, and called the Florida State defensive end an "interesting pick" for the Giants.

"Tank Carradine makes a great deal of sense for the Giants," Rang said. ""At 19 overall I think he provides pretty good value as long as your medical people feel strongly about that."

That, of course, being the health of the knee in which Carradine suffered a torn ACL in November. Carradine works out for NFL scouts on Saturday in a highly-anticipated workout where he will show scouts just exactly how far along he is in his recovery.

If he is healthy, Rang said Carradine's talent and the Giants' need for a pass rusher with Osi Umenyiora in Atlanta and Justin Tuck in the final year of his contract "warrants the gamble on a guy who has a high motor, high upside."

Dan Kadar and Matthew Fairburn of Mocking The Draft have been on the Carradine to the Giants train for a while, and may have even been the ones to get it headed down the tracks.

For me, if you believe the Giants will go defensive end and want to consider this purely a debate between Carradine and his Florida State teammate Bjoern Werner it's a debate that reminds me of 2010. That year, of course, there was a split in opinion over defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and Derrick Morgan. The Giants took the gamble on Pierre-Paul, the less experienced player with the higher upside and have been hugely rewarded. Pierre-Paul has already made an All-Pro team, and his 6.5 sacks last season were considered a disappointment. Morgan, taken one pick later by the Tennessee Titans, finally became a full-time starter in 2012 and had a career-high in sacks -- 6.5.

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For me, Carradine vs. Werner shapes up as a similar debate. In 2010 I was in the Morgan camp, and what I learned from the decision by Jerry Reese to swing for the fences is that to be great you have to reach for extraordinary on occasion rather than play it safe. In this case, all the reports lead me to believe Werner could be a good player. They lead me to believe, however, that the ceiling for Carradine is as a great player. Put me in the Carradine camp if it comes to that choice.