Brooks: Let time answer questions about Jameis Winston 
Derrick Brooks said he was impressed that Jameis Winston took the initiative and asked to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO Published: April 27, 2015 TAMPA — Derrick Brooks is among the most trusted figures in Tampa Bay sports history, the total package, on and off the field.The Bucs are about to draft Jameis Winston No. 1.It brings up questions of trust and risk.Brooks trusts Jameis Winston. He trusts in something even more than that:Time.“It’s fair enough to have questions,” the Hall of Fame linebacker said. “It’s fair enough to have doubt. I wouldn’t expect anything different. I have certain questions that are going to have to be answered, whether this young man comes to the Bucs or goes elsewhere. But I’m still going to have a relationship with him. There are questions that I will let time answer.”Start the clock.Brooks knows Winston. They talk every week. Brooks mentors Winston when asked. They attended the same university. Winston was in Tampa on Monday for Brooks’ annual charity golf tournament. All that needs to be said. Brooks has no problem saying it. I’m pretty sure Marcus Mariota wasn’t in Brooks’ golf tournament. No matter.“I don’t have a problem if (the Bucs) draft Jameis and I don’t have a problem if they don’t draft him,” Brooks said. “In my role as an appeals officer, I cannot and will not show favoritism.”Still, what does No. 55 see in Winston?“Some of the things Derrick Brooks likes about him I’d like to keep to myself,” Brooks said. “Make your judgments yourselves. Come up with your own, whether you like him or not. Don’t join at the hip with me. I respect the fact that most people respect my opinion, even use the ‘T’ word — trust it. But if I want people to be open-minded, then I can’t give them opinions.”But Brooks likes that Winston took the initiative and asked to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.“Has any other draft pick done that?” Brooks said. “Has any other draft pick, on their own dime, gone to meet with the commissioner? No one has ever done it. He did it.”Trust.Brooks said he didn’t become trusted in Tampa Bay overnight.“Over time you saw me that way,” he said. “You didn’t feel that way on Day One. Didn’t know me. Then why don’t you afford him the same time? I’d done something wrong, too.”It’s quite a reach, comparing Brooks’ Foot Locker moment at Florida State with Winston’s transgressions, alleged and otherwise.“I’m not trying to compare,” Brooks said. “I’m saying I made a bad decision. Obviously, the law is the law and there are degrees. So I’m not trying to make a comparison. What I’m saying is that as a human being I made a bad decision. If it wasn’t for open minds, I could never go from that decision to being on the trustee board of the same university. ... Don’t you think they had to have an open mind?”Asked if he lied during the Foot Locker investigation, Brooks said, ‘No. I said, ‘Coach, here’s what happened.’ ”Does anyone believe Winston didn’t lie at one point over the Publix incident?“Having an open mind, I speak from a standpoint of faith,” Brooks said. “When you believe as I believe, God doesn’t throw you out because you made a mistake. You repent, you’re sincere, you learn, you move on. With me, when I say open-minded, that’s faith based.”To Brooks, this comes down to the “character box.” That’s what he calls it.“You’ve got to ask every individual team, each one, how big is their character box? Derrick Brooks’ character box, from what I see in myself, my character box is big. I can’t answer that question for the Bucs ...”What about Winston’s character box?He has a lot of doubters.“All I’m telling you is if that’s how you feel, that’s how you feel,” Brooks said. “That’s your stance. I’m not trying to sell you or anyone else on Jameis Winston. Never have, never will. I’m saying time will give you all the answers to your questions. ... History has allowed for certain opinions about him. Now, again, he has had a lot of say in it. But we can’t get away from the four-letter word: Time. As much as we want the answers about what he’s going to do, what he’s going to be, let’s for once give in to the proper but unpopular thing: time.”Start the clock.link
