On Monday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Jameis Winston was not going to be the starting quarterback for the upcoming divisional game against the Carolina Panthers.
Instead, journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick will be under centre to start the game.
The decision to bench Winston tells us a couple things. First and foremost, head coach Dirk Koetter is making the personnel decisions in Tampa Bay and is desperate to win. A coach who doesn’t have much job security is going to do whatever he has to do to win right now, which includes benching his captain.
Secondly, it tells us Winston’s future with the Buccaneers is in question.
But his time in Tampa should be over. The Buccaneers should cut ties with Jameis Winston.
Winston’s talent is unquestioned. The 24-year-old can make all the throws and has been the top quarterback prospect of his age class since he began playing the position.
But what can be questioned is his decision-making, on and off the field. Both are cause for concern when Winston is expected to be the face of a franchise and the leader of a team.
Winston’s off-field issues have been well documented from his time in college as a Heisman Trophy winner and national champion with Florida State. Winston has a long list of documented harassment and assault allegations, mostly involving women, dating back to 2012.
The most egregious of which was in December 2012, when Winston, a freshman at Florida State at the time, was accused of rape. While he wasn’t charged, the New York Times called the investigation of the star athlete “flawed.”
Winston was later one of the subjects in “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about the high rate of sexual assault on college campuses.
Even before the rape investigation was over, Winston was accused of stealing crab legs from a super market, and in another incident allegedly stood on a table yelling sexually explicit language about women in the Florida State student union building.
Becoming a pro hasn’t kept Winston away from similar issues. Most recently, he allegedly grabbed the crotch of a female Uber driver in 2016 and was subsequently suspended for the first three games of the 2018 season. He is now being sued by the Uber driver.
Those incidents would justify the Bucs in washing their hands of Winston. But even setting morality aside, Winston’s struggles on the field would be enough for the franchise to rid itself of the headache Winston causes.
Winston was pulled last week against the Cincinnati Bengals after going 18-for-35 for 276 yards with four interceptions, continuing a long history of on-field missteps.
His 42 interceptions while not under duress are the most since 2015. Only Blake Bortles (39) and Eli Manning (36) are in the vicinity, and both are expected to lose their starting jobs this off-season. Winston should be treated no different.
Since entering the NFL in 2015, Winston has four games with four or more turnovers, the most in the NFL. He has two more four-turnover games than any other quarterback.
In 49 career games, Winston has turned the ball over 70 times, second in the league to only Bortles since 2015. Except Winston has played 529 less snaps than Bortles over that time, so Winston’s actually turning the football over at a much higher clip.
The Bucs drafted Mike Evans and O.J. Howard, and acquired DeSean Jackson, to give Winston weapons to target. They promoted Koetter to head coach because he and Winston had a good relationship. Winston’s been given a tailor-made opportunity to succeed and hasn’t been able to do anything positive with it.
Winston is now in his fourth year. He’s not new. He’s no longer learning. He’s had stability with his play-caller and his targets. This season he has 10 interceptions – the same number as rookie Sam Darnold and Winston missed three games due to suspension and was pulled from two games for bad play.
The Buccaneers have already picked up Winston’s fifth-year option, which means they’re due to pay him $20.9 million in 2019. But they have a window until March to cut him loose. The only reason they’d be on the hook to pay the salary is if he sustains an injury before then.
That alone is reason to keep Winston off the field.
By now, general manager Jason Licht should have seen enough. Winston may not turn out to be a first-round bust. He may salvage his career and show maturity on and off the field, but he’s already shown he isn’t going to be an elite franchise quarterback. That’s what you are bargaining on when you select someone at the top of the draft.
The Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are all examples that a team needs to hit on a young quarterback and then surround him with talent while he is young and cheap in order to win big.
That window has closed on Winston. He’s no longer going to be cheap and he’s really not that young.
If he’s shown the inability to steer from making bad decisions out of entitlement to this point, why would that change when a team gives him more guaranteed money?
Maya Angelou famously said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
No, she wasn’t talking about quarterback evaluation, but the sentiment holds true.
Winston has shown us who he is countless times. Tampa Bay needs to believe him and say goodbye.
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