Throughout his first season as the Buccaneers’ head coach, Bruce Arians was generally non-committal towards former starting QB Jameis Winston. In one memorable sound-bite towards the end of the 2019 campaign, Arians was asked if Tampa could win with a different signal-caller, and he replied, “With another quarterback? Oh yeah. If we can win with this one (Winston), we can definitely win with another one, too.”
Despite that, Arians recently told Rich Eisen of the NFL Network that he is trying to sell other clubs on Winston (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). “I’ve called a couple teams,” Arians told Eisen. “You’re going to get one of the hardest workers you’ve ever had and a great young man.”
However, none of the teams that Arians spoke with indicated they were interested in Winston as a starter. And indeed, teams that entered the offseason with QB needs have either filled those needs, plan to stay the course with their current group of passers, or are expected to use a high draft pick on a quarterback. So at this point, Winston will just need to get on a roster and hope that an opportunity opens up.
Now for more on the suddenly interesting Bucs:
- We recently heard that the Buccaneers’ top QB choices were Tom Brady, then Teddy Bridgewater, then Winston, and Arians confirmed as much in the above-referenced interview with Eisen. “[A Winston re-up] didn’t work out for us only because [Brady] was available and we had [Bridgewater] if that wouldn’t have worked out,” Arians said. “We were going full steam ahead back with Jameis.”
- After entering the offseason with a ton of cap space, the Bucs have only about $14MM left to spend, as Greg Auman of The Athletic observes, and some of that will be needed to sign the club’s draft picks. Auman takes a look at a few veteran FAs still available that could fit the Bucs’ remaining needs. One such player is safety Tony Jefferson, who played for Arians for four years in Arizona and who would represent a quality veteran presence in Tampa’s young defensive backfield.
- The Bucs could wait until the draft to fill their need for a pass-catching RB, but if they are unable to do so or unwilling to wait, they could look at Isaiah Crowell, per Auman. Crowell does not have a past connection to Arians but did play for DC Todd Bowles when Bowles was the Jets’ head coach in 2018.
- DB Ryan Smith re-signed with the Buccaneers several days ago, and Terez A. Paylor of Yahoo Sports says Smith’s one-year deal has a max value of $2.25MM (Twitter link).
- Even though Brady may want him, the Buccaneers have no intention of signing Antonio Brown.
I like how Arians said the only reason we didn’t resign Winston were because there were 2 free agents we wanted more lol. Basically, if nothing worked out, we would have resigned him
That’s because Winston is known to be “one of the hardest working player” and “a great young man”. Every one else knows he stinks.
I could see Winston as a fit in NY.
Either the Giants or Jets lose their starter and Winston can still win some games.
He might even be better than Jones.
He might be better than jones but he’s gotten his chances time for other guys to get theirs
I don’t understand why this is specific to NY? If either of them lose their starter (to injury?), then Winston could fit? Couldn’t you say this about most of the league?
The problem is he’s thrown way too many interceptions year after year since being drafted. In his 5th year he threw for over 5000 yards but he had 30 interceptions. Key words: “5th year”. So when does Winston figure it out? Maybe having Arians as his coach last year with their, chuck it deep style, wasn’t good for him. But do you trust him in an important drive at the end of a game? He obviously has talent But….
He will tweezer splinters out of his butt until some QB blows out an ankle, knee, elbow or shoulder….they will call Tampa….he will play again.
What
Tweezer. Tampa. Blow out an ankle.
hahaha well said @mstockw1
I think what he’s attempting to say is Winston will ride the bench until a team has an injury and will call Tampa to make a trade, but’s he’s not knowing that Winston is a free agent
Jameis had eye surgery didn’t he? He might actually be able to see now?…
Didn’t know they could do surgery to correct color blindness, aka Vinny Testeverde disease.
Winston blows!
Winston to the Jags to compete with Minshew?