Buccaneers: Could Jameis Winston come back to haunt Tampa Bay?

Could the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to regret Jameis Winston’s decision to join their cross-divisional rivals in the New Orleans Saints?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the decision to move on from their former No. 1 overall pick in Jameis Winston this offseason.

The Buccaneers invested the last five years in Winston and never saw the consistency they were hoping for out the quarterback. As a result, they elected to pursue different avenues and ended up signing veteran QB Tom Brady to become the new leader of the offense.

Could moving on from Jameis Winston- specifically Winston’s decision to sign with cross-divisional rival New Orleans- come back to haunt the Buccaneers?

It’s tough to tell what will happen in the Winston saga moving forward. He has decided to take a second-string position with the Saints in hopes of later reemerging as a starter in the near future.

The truth of the matter is that he probably couldn’t have signed with a better organization, in terms of a chance to develop.

Winston will have the opportunity to learn under a future Hall of Famer in Drew Brees with a franchise in New Orleans that has a good track record of developing quarterback talent.

The haunting could come in two forms for the Buccaneers: First, the immediate implications. Then, the future implications.

The immediate implications of Winston signing with the Saints is that he will essentially be able to hand the Tampa playbook over to  Dennis Allen and will be able to help Sean Payton and Co. recognize tendencies in Bucs players. It gives them an ‘in’ during a season where Tampa Bay looks to be legitimate competitors for the division.

Then there’s the future implications. No one has ever doubted Winston’s talent. What if the LASIK eye surgery and a year of development does help him reach his potential? Could Tampa live with leaving a franchise-changing quarterback by giving up on him a bit too early? It’s certainly something that could come back to haunt them.

The truth of the matter is that you can’t live with regrets. The Bucs are set up to win now with Tom Brady and they made the right decision, but you’ll always have thoughts of ‘what could’ve been’  until we see what happens next in the Jameis Winston saga.