We can close door on potential Jameis Winston – Buccaneers reunion

Those hoping for a potential return of Jameis Winston to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be disappointed to learn that the Buccaneers head coach isn’t exactly high on the idea.

Bucs fans are in quite the frenzy over the mystery of who will be the one to replace Tom Brady as the starting quarterback in Tampa Bay. So much so, that the idea of Winston coming back to the Buccaneers has become a lightning rod discussion point amongst them.

If what Rick Stroud says is to be believed, then we can pretty much stop wasting our energy.

Speaking with Rich Eisen during his appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Stroud was pretty quick to shoot down the idea. “I don’t think Arians is fine with it. Been there, done that.” Considering Bruce Arians is looking like he’ll be back for at least another year, and Stroud is very well informed, this is pretty significant.

“There was a time when they were 7-7 in his one year here under Bruce,” Stroud would continue. “I thought he was going to make it, he threw for like 460-something two games in a row. Then they played Houston…then they played Atlanta and he threw both those games away. I saw on Bruce’s face that day he had reached his limit with Jameis Winston.”

Now obviously, Stroud isn’t Arians. That said, the writing appears to be on the wall, and has been for some time. It’s also worth noting that Arians and Jameis only spent one season together. Arians was not the coach when the Buccaneers made Winston the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Lovie Smith was. It was his final year in Tampa Bay before the Dirk Koetter-era, which eventually lead to Bucco Bruce as the Bucs head coach.

This NFL offseason is set to be quite the doozy for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There is the quarterback situation to figure out, and now with the bombshell that was the retirement of Ali Marpet, the offensive line all of a sudden becomes the team’s biggest need. With all that being said, the makeup of the 2022 Buccaneers is still a mystery, but we know for almost certainty that Jameis Winston will not be on the roster.