Despite complaints and rumors about the departure of QB Jameis Winston, it seems that the majority of the Buccaneers fanbase wants Winston back.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have an extremely important decision to make in the coming months when it comes to QB Jameis Winston.
Winston, an unrestricted free-agent, is an enigma to say the least.
He threw for 5,109 yards and 33 touchdowns during his fifth season with the organization. That would be a stat line any franchise would be happy with, right? Well, Winston also led the NFL in interceptions with 30- an average of nearly two per game.
Winston has shown the arm talent and ability to be successful at the pro level, but he often makes mistakes that can be broken down to not correctly reading coverage or just trusting his arm strength too much in a situation where he likely should’ve just checked down. In addition to Winston making mistakes, it should be noted that several interceptions by him were not necessarily his fault.
There have been plenty of rumors about what the Buccaneers will do with Winston and the quarterback position during the 2020 offseason. Many fans have mentioned options like going after Tom Brady, Teddy Bridgewater or even Drew Breese, though it wouldn’t be likely for the Buccaneers to land any of those three names. Some fans living on the edge have even pegged Andy Dalton as a target they’d be interested in signing.
Others have mentioned the organization drafting a quarterback for the future, like Oregon’s Justin Herbert of Washington’s Jacob Eason.
With all of those potential options and others being mentioned, it seems that the vast majority of the fanbase wants Jameis Winston to return.
Let’s just attack the heart of the matter with a POLL.
— The Pewter Plank (@ThePewterPlank) January 17, 2020
Do you want Jameis Winston back? If NO, what would you like to see the Bucs do? #GoBucs
The Pewter Plank ran a poll on Twitter over the weekend and 72 percent of the voters said “yes” when asked if they wanted Winston to return.
While 707 votes are certainly a small sample size, I believe it shows an overarching theme when it comes to the Buccaneers fanbase. Though many were upset with Winston’s large interception count last year, they see the potential for growth in Bruce Arians’ system.
In addition to seeing a high-potential in Winston, many Buccaneer fans are unsure about the free-agent market and don’t want to let Winston go and then end up with a lesser option through free-agency of the draft, for that matter.
It’s an intriguing situation, but it seems that vast majority of the fanbase wants Tampa Bay to strike a deal with Winston for the foreseeable future.