The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been linked to several names, but Pro Football Focus believes Jameis Winston is the answer at QB.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reportedly shown interest in several free-agent quarterbacks, including Tom Brady, Philip Rivers and Teddy Bridgewater.
Though the Buccaneers have been linked to several names in free-agency, there’s still an overarching belief that the organization will end up bringing back QB Jameis Winston for another season.
Pro Football Focus released an article detailing quarterbacks who could be franchise builders and the organization listed Winston as No. 4 on their list. The top-five, for those wondering, were Joe Burrow (No. 1), Dak Prescott (No. 2), Tua Tagovailoa (No. 3), Winston (No. 4) and Ryan Tannehill (No. 5).
Pro Football Focus detailed the massive divide over Winston because of his massive interception total, but said that high upside is worth the risk the Buccaneers would be taking in re-signing him.
"“No quarterback has generated more positively graded throws since 2015 than Winston, which has hlped lead him to being one of the 10 most valuable players in the NFL in that stretch. Most of the quarterback available in free agency are over 30 years old, and Winston just turned 26.”"
Winston has been the most polarizing figure in Buccaneers’ free-agency history. A solid portion of the fanbase wants him to return, but many others are ready to move on from the QB.
Winston has the high upside to be a franchise QB if he could find a way to refrain from turning the ball over. He’s able to test the back-end of the defense with his arm strength and does a solid job finding open receivers, but just made too many mistakes over the course of the season.
As we look at Winston, there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Buccaneers could succeed with Winston under center. He would be in his second-year in Bruce Arians’ system and is also coming off LASIK eye surgery, which could help him in improving on those turnovers from a season ago and reaching his full attention.
But there’s always going to be that chance Winston isn’t able to refrain from throwing interceptions and that is the great risk associated with making the decision to re-sign him.