Winston and the Whys SI.comThe challenges are coming fast and furious at Jameis Winston in his first training camp with the Bucs. He’s making mistakes, but the rookie QB is learning from them and asking the right questions. 
Chris O'Meara/AP TAMPA, Fla. — Patience: a word no one here wants to hear. “JAME-is! JAME-is! JAME-is!” Forty-five minutes after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tuesday morning practice in this soggy city, a good chunk of a big crowd was still waiting for Jameis Winston to sign for them. But he was done for the day with that. In all, signing and interviewing took up 75 minutes of Winston’s day, and that is just the norm these days for the first pick in the 2015 draft, the man who just happens to be the Bucs’ savior. They hope.Winston looks the part. He’s shed a few pounds since draft weekend, and looks more tapered and sinewy than the kid with the Roethlisberger physique—not chunky, but not Matt Ryan either—who was drafted to save the woebegone franchise three months ago. Part of this is a result of becoming a weight-room regular. “He was the first player in the weight room on the first day of camp,” said one Buc insider Tuesday. “Six a.m. A couple of the coaches had to tell him to save a little bit for practice. He just couldn’t wait. He’s been like that a lot this off-season.”Said GM Jason Licht: “The city’s super-excited. When I go out, I hear either, ‘This is the year,’ or, ‘So glad we’re finally headed in the right direction.’ ”But not necessarily today. The Bucs were 30th in total offense in the league last year, 30th in sacks allowed, 29th in points … with significant holes on the line and at quarterback. And just because they've taken the quarterback of Licht’s and Lovie Smith’s dreams doesn’t mean that quarterback will be a star tomorrow. Or even in December.“You have to know the whys," Winston says. “If you know why then you can make corrections but if you don't know why you did something, then you are stuck. As long as I keep learning the whys, I’ll be okay.” Take Tuesday’s practice, in pads, at the Bucs’ training facility in the shadow of Raymond James Stadium. In team drills against the first defense, the first and third plays of Winston’s day were interceptions—by linebacker Lavonte David and cornerback Alterraun Verner. This came after a three-pick practice Sunday. Five weeks from the first game of his pro career, Jameis Winston is very much a work in progress.But why wouldn’t he be? What rookie, confronted with a great drop-and-cover linebacker like David and a clinging cornerback like Verner, isn’t going to make some errors? Peyton Manning threw 28 interceptions in a 3-13 rookie season. The pressure will come, from the pass-rush and the media and the public, and Winston will have to have answers. He had them after practice Tuesday.On the Lavonte David interception, was it not having his read down?“No sir,” Winston said. “I overthrew Vincent [Jackson].”And the Verner interception—any reason you were behind him?“Yeah, I was late,” he said. “That's a thing with the chemistry. That concept was a timing lapse. We’ve got all the reads—I get those. But when the [strongside] linebacker pushes over, I'm supposed to work backside. So obviously, I'm going to see that on film and I already know in my head what I did wrong.“One thing I've learned is you have to know the whys. If you know why then you can make corrections but if you don't know why you did something, then you are stuck. As long as I keep learning the whys and focus on the positives, I’ll be okay.”That’s important. Remember what offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter said in the spring. When Winston told Koetter he wasn’t afraid of making any throw to any place on the field, Koetter told him, “Maybe you should be.”That’s the fine line Winston will walk this season, behind an offensive line that’s very much a work in progress, with either two or three new starters, including rookies Donovan Smith at left tackle and Ali Marpet of mighty Hobart & William Smith College at right guard. (Though Marpet was still working with the second line Tuesday.) He needs to have guts. But he has to know when to fold ’em too.“Look at [Winston's] last couple of years,” Smith said. “Highs and lows. That’s the life of a quarterback. You’ve got to get used to them. They’re coming.”One last thing about Winston, who had a slew of legal issues in college, including one sexual-assault accusation: He was a human headline for three years at Florida State. The best thing that happened this off-season for Winston? He was invisible. We’ll see how long it lasts, but that might be the best sign of his first three months as a pro—being seen and not heard.link
