Jameis Winston seems to be dedicated, has dropped a lot of weight
One of the many, many reasons the NFL draft is an inexact science is that teams can’t know for sure which players will put in the work to be great. It’s hard to predict what a 22-year-old will do once he’s given a few million dollars.
It’s especially true at quarterback. NFL quarterback isn’t a full-time job; it’s two full-time jobs. It’s pretty simple: Either you immerse yourself in being an NFL quarterback or your odds of succeeding plummet.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston, who came into the draft with plenty of question marks, appears to get it.
NFL offseason stories are always a bit tough to gauge, because everyone is in the best shape of his life and everyone is working harder than ever. But every story about Winston has a common theme: He’s dedicated to being a great quarterback.
The latest is from ESPN’s Britt McHenry, who wrote a detailed piece about Winston getting in better shape. He looked a bit out of shape for an NFL quarterback last year, but that has changed. This offseason he has been working with trainer Tim Grover, who is most famous for his work with Michael Jordan, and Winston has dropped 18 pounds. He has changed his diet and workout routine. The story said he’s still about five pounds from his goal weight of 225-229 pounds.
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Winston, the No. 1 pick of last year’s draft, played pretty well as a rookie and all the signs are positive going into his second year.
“I wanted to have a plan, and I didn’t want there to be any excuse for any decline,” Winston told ESPN.
“It’s just crazy for a guy so young,” Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans said of Winston, to ESPN. “It’s amazing; I’ve never seen a work ethic like his yet.”
There have been other good signs, like the stories of him arriving to the Buccaneers facility earlier than anyone else to watch film as a rookie. That seems to have carried over to his first offseason as well.
This could have gone in a totally different way and it wouldn’t have been too surprising, based on the perception of Winston coming into the NFL. But he seems to be a coach’s dream, putting in work every day to master playing quarterback.
“It’s who he is, how he’s wired,” Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times. “I think that’s one thing that’s a misnomer. I think from the outside you would’ve looked at it with all the things that were publicized in the past about him and who he is. I was dead wrong. He wants to win as much as we do. He’s a competitive joker, man, he’s smart, he’s intelligent…you can win a lot of games with guys like that.”
Winston was a great college player and had a good rookie season, with 4,042 yards, 22 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. And none of the feel-good stories this offseason guarantee much, because offseason stories like that are often overblown and there’s so much that goes into playing quarterback in the NFL that it’s never easy to gauge how a young one will develop.
But the signs are good. The talent is obviously not a question. There’s a long way to go, but the Buccaneers might have made a franchise-changing pick.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
