Table of Contents

About the Author: Trevor Sikkema

Avatar Of Trevor Sikkema
Trevor Sikkema is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat reporter and NFL Draft analyst for PewterReport.com. Sikkema, an alumnus of the University of Florida, has covered both college and professional football for much of his career. As a native of the Sunshine State, when he's not buried in social media, Sikkema can be found out and active, attempting to be the best athlete he never was. Sikkema can be reached at: [email protected]

[adrotate group=”1″]

I had to take a deep breath before typing this story — a few deep breaths, really.

On Friday’s edition of PFT Live, a podcast hosted by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Florio announced his opinion that if Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston were to be released right now (not that the Bucs would ever do such a thing) that no team in the NFL would jump at the chance to sign him and make him their starting quarterback.

Florio went on to “clarify” that initial statement on his site.

“Here’s the point I made: At this juncture of the offseason, no other team would immediately sign Winston and make him the starter, if he were suddenly available.”

Allow me to take another deep breath again.

Even if you are on the lowest end of the spectrum with Jameis Winston, this one of the worst and pointless takes of 2018.

Winston is going into his fourth year as a pro. At just 24 years old, Winston has accumulated 11,636 passing yards with 77 total touchdowns (69 passing and eight rushing). He’s been a captain and leader of the team since the day he was drafted and is without question still one of the budding young quarterbacks in the league. Even if you want to throw in the fact that he has thrown 44 interceptions and his competition percentage is just over 60 percent, the potential that Winston has and even where he currently is now as a quarterback before the upside is greater than many other quarterback situations in the NFL.

This is also such a pointless thing to say, at this point in the offseason, because there are many teams who have already made moves and put money into quarterbacks that they would absolutely wish they didn’t if they could have a guy like Jameis Winston. You can look at teams like the Broncos, Redskins and Dolphins who would all gladly have Winston as their starter over the players they currently have, but have spent the money and resources on their guys already. You can throw in the fact that Winston would absolutely start over guys like Eli Manning, Blake Bortles, and Andy Dalton from a talent perspective, too. And if you look at teams that just drafted rookies, Winston would be the Day 1 starter in Buffalo, Arizona, New York (Jets), Browns and Baltimore in terms of which quarterback on the roster would have the best chance to win them games.

All of that aside, Jacksonville would sign Winston in the same minute he would be released, if such a thing occurred.

This all stemmed from Florio running with a quote from Bucs offensive coordinator Todd Monken saying that Winston has to be more careful with the football and tries too hard at times.

Winston has to be better, there is no doubt about that. But the reason there is so much pressure for him to be better and be one of the best is because he has the potential to be.

No team would cut their starting quarterback at this point in the year, and this was just Florio’s cheap shot at a quarterback that takes a lot of cheap shots.

Talk is cheap and so was Florio’s take.

Bucs DC Smith: Hargreaves The Starter At Outside Corner
Are Bucs Coaches Still Confident In Barber After Drafting Jones?
Subscribe
Notify of
56 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments