Famous Jameis’ End in Sight?

Reports Friday Tampa Bay Bucs QB Jameis Winston will be suspended for 3 games for groping an Uber driver and won’t appeal the suspension…

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Famous Jameis’ End in Sight?

Contemplative Winston at a crossroads.

Reports Friday Tampa Bay Bucs QB Jameis Winston will be suspended for 3 games for groping an Uber driver and won’t appeal the suspension. Coupled with past transgressions, rape allegations in college (which he paid $950k to settle) and a litany of other incidents, paint a picture of a troubled young man. He is his own worst enemy.

Winton is blessed with incredible athletic talent, a two sport college star (he was a top college baseball pitcher); he has supreme confidence that may result in an irrational sense of right and wrong, and a pattern of disrepect for woman. If his performance lived up to his ego, this likely would be a blip on the radar. Winston sits today with a starting record of 18–27 in the NFL with average statistics, irrespective of the allegations, he is staring at 2018 being a critical make or break year.

A franchise quarterback is a subjective label we place on the face of an NFL team. Generally this is a leader, who is the face of the team to the media and outside world. They also must be able to put the team in the most advantageous position to succeed, and overtime they must deliver results to maintain the label. Through three full seasons in the NFL, Winston has severely disappointed against expectations in two of his three seasons. In a situation devoid of the character concerns, Winston possibly be in line for a $100M guaranteed contract extension this summer or fall, as he would be entering his final contractual year in ’19. Now there is serious doubt to whether Winston can be a face of a franchise, and any contract extension will be on hold for at least another year, if not longer.

If I was the Tampa Bay Bucs owner I would ask myself whether I want my multi-billion asset (the team) to be tarnished further by Winston’s presence. Due process and patience are required, however with the continued lack of good judgement and mediocre performance, the “shield” and league are too important to enable this behavior further. In a league shutting out Johnny Manziel (for immature party and domestic violence concerns), that suspended Michael Vick for a year (for dog fighting), it’s only a matter of time whether Winston is it’s latest victim. He maintains the slimmest of margins, any transgressions would likely be the nail in the coffin, however it’s the performance on the field that’s most important. If he returns to the field and leads the Bucs to a playoff spot and he’s personally successful, then he will start the healing process, or more specifically fans will forget the issues.

Winston looks similar in size and results to another well built pocket passer, Byron Leftwich, who didn’t suffer transgressions but also didn’t keep his starting job due to lack of success. If history is any gauge, the probability favors Winston continuing to be a mediocre quarterback, the Bucs remaining average at best, and the Tampa Bay leadership deciding a year from now that they need a new “face of the franchise”. Unfortunately the NFL likely won’t exercise the same level of discipline with Winston as they did with others (Ray Rice, Vick, etc.). Yet the end result will likely be the same, it just won’t because of bad judgement, it’ll be because of poor performance.