The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the midst of an important decision at quarterback and there’s growing speculation about the future.
Have we seen the end of Jameis Winston with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization?
Growing speculation is saying that it is becoming less and less likely that Winston will return to Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are reportedly considering using the franchise tag on Shaquil Barrett if a long-term agreement can’t be reached in the offseason and things are seemingly falling by the wayside in terms of bringing Winston back for another season.
The most recent report- from NBC Sports’ Peter King– suggests that Winston is more likely to leave Tampa than to stay at this point. King said he spent a lot of his time at the NFL Combine trying to find a destination for the quarterback and there wasn’t a common consensus.
"“Where will everyone land? I kept asking people here about the fate of Jameis Winston, and I couldn’t find a landing spot for him. I doubt sincerely he’d be a starter on opening day 2020 if he leaves Tampa (which is likely), but where would/could he be a backup?,” King said."
It’s amazing how things change in such a short amount of time.
Just a couple of weeks ago, ‘league sources‘ were saying that Tampa Bay was working on a deal with Winston and that the Buccaneers’ most likely choice was bringing the QB back for at least another season.
Now, it seems that the fate of Winston- at least in Tampa- is up in the air.
From the reports of several insiders, we can see that Winston doesn’t seem like the Bucs’ first choice at quarterback this offseason- no matter what you think of him personally- and that Tampa Bay apparently has confidence in him testing the open market while the organization looks at other veteran free-agents, presumably including Tom Brady and Philip Rivers.
Be aware, though, that all of this is just speculation and it would certainly make sense for the organization to use whatever tactics necessary to drive Winston’s price down through negotiations.