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Jameis Winston

Bucs To Start Jameis Winston

October 1st, 2018 at 2:15pm CST by Zachary Links

Fitzmagic is no more. On Monday, coach Dirk Koetter announced that Jameis Winston will be the Bucs’ starting quarterback when they face the Falcons in Week 6. 

[RELATED: Bucs’ O.J. Howard To Miss Time]

Winston was suspended for the first three games of the season and Fitzpatrick was stellar in his absence – at least through the first two games. Fitzpatrick had an up-and-down Week 3 against the Steelers and the wheels completely came off on Sunday against the Bears. When Winston took over, he outperformed the Harvard product by completing 16 of 20 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Winston threw a pair of picks in the process, but he still looks like the more promising option of the two.

Winston is under club control through the 2019 season thanks to his fifth-year option. The option, guaranteed for injury only, is worth $20.9MM. If Winston plays well from here on out, the Bucs will have an easy call to make in the offseason. If he falters, Winston could hit the free agent market, where he can still cash in due to positional scarcity.

Bucs Bench Ryan Fitzpatrick For Jameis Winston

September 30th, 2018 at 3:32pm CST by Ben Levine

Active for the first time after serving his three-game suspension, it didn’t take long for Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston to see the field. The former first-overall pick replaced starter Ryan Fitzpatrick during the second half of Tampa Bay’s loss to the Bears today.

The Buccaneers offense struggled mightily with Fitzpatrick in the game. Before being benched, the veteran quarterback had completed nine of his 18 pass attempts for only 126 yards. He also threw an interception and was sacked twice. Winston ended up finishing the game having completed 16 of his 20 pass attempts for 145 yards, one touchdown, and two picks. He also added a single seven-yard rush. After the game, head coach Dirk Koetter said Winston had probably done enough to earn the starting nod for his team’s Week 6 contest against the Falcons (via The Athletic’s Greg Auman on Twitter).

Fitzpatrick got off to a roaring start this season, as he compiled at least 400 passing yards and four touchdowns in each of his first two games. However, the 35-year-old threw three interceptions during last week’s loss to the Steelers, and Koetter admitted to his team that he almost replaced the veteran with backup Ryan Griffin.

Some wondered whether this was an attempt by the organization to lay the foundation for Winston’s inevitable return to the lineup. When the team announced that Fitzpatrick would be starting today’s game, they partly attributed the decision to the fact that Winston had had less than a week of practice under his belt. Koetter had previously said the coaching staff would reevaluate the quarterback position during the upcoming bye week.

While Fitzpatrick may have won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award following his performance in the Bucs’ first two games, it’s sounding like he’ll probably be riding the pine when the Bucs return to the field in Week 6.

Latest On Buccaneers’ QB Situation

September 30th, 2018 at 9:00am CST by Rory Parks

Although the Buccaneers could not conjure quite enough FitzMagic to pull off a comeback win against the Steelers on Monday, Tampa Bay will start Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Bears this afternoon, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). This was the expected move given how well Fitzpatrick has generally played through the first three weeks of the season and in light of the fact that the team is on a short week this week.

Plus, we heard earlier this month that Fitzpatrick would remain under center for as long as he performs at a high level. But according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Tampa Bay head coach Dirk Koetter told his team during a meeting on Wednesday that he was “one or two plays away” from lifting Fitzpatrick on Monday night in favor of backup Ryan Griffin. At the time Koetter was contemplating that move, Fitzpatrick had just thrown his third interception and the club was trailing Pittsburgh 23-7.

Koetter, of course, did not end up pulling Fitzpatrick, but the fact that he made his thought process known to his team took some Buccaneers by surprise. Some players simply took Koetter’s words at face value, but some wondered whether he was laying a foundation for Jameis Winston to return, perhaps as soon as Week 6 (Tampa Bay has a bye in Week 5). After all, the team still views Winston as its long-term quarterback, so it stands to reason that he will be under center at some point soon, even if Fitzpatrick continues to overachieve.

Jenna Laine of ESPN.com reports that the Bucs will reassess their QB situation during their bye week, and that Koetter has informed Fitzpatrick and Winston of his plans. Koetter said, “We know what we’re going to do. Both guys know what we’re going to do. Hope everybody can appreciate that it doesn’t do us any good to tell our opponents what we’re going to do.”

Winston was not permitted to practice at the team facility during his suspension, but Laine writes that he brought in quarterbacks coaches George Whitfield and John Beck and longtime trainer Otis Leverette to help him maintain the same schedule he had with the Bucs, and the group conducted daily workouts with 25 free agents and former teammates.

Winston’s initiative impressed Koetter, who said, “Hats off to Jameis for putting together a group of guys to do what he did…Jameis is a quarterback, coach and GM all at the same time — perfect. I think there is a little adjustment period, and that’s one of the things we’re trying to move along as quickly as we can.”

Reading between the lines, it certainly seems as if Winston may be starting for the Bucs in Week 6.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston Hires Agent

September 24th, 2018 at 10:44am CST by Zachary Links

Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston has hired agent Joel Segal of Lagardère Sports to represent him, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). He’ll be co-represented by Segal’s longtime colleague Greg Barnett, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (on Twitter) adds. 

Winston dumped agents Greg Genske and Kenny Felder shortly after reaching a compromise with the league on his suspension. His three-game ban is now up, but his job may now belong to Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is off to a scorching hot start through two games. If Fitzpatrick keeps the magic going on Monday night when the Bucs take on the Steelers, it could be a while before Winston sees the field again.

The Buccaneers control Winston’s rights through 2019 thanks to his $20.9MM fifth-year option, which is guaranteed for injury only. In theory, the Bucs could keep Winston on the shelf to avoid triggering the guarantee, but the club plans to reinsert him into the lineup whenever they feel it is in the team’s best interest to do so.

Winston understands that the Bucs can bail on him after the season, which made his agency decision all the more important. With an agent that has a wealth of NFL experience (as opposed to MLB experience), he’s arguably in better hands than before.

Jameis Winston May Not Immediately Start Upon Return

September 16th, 2018 at 9:19am CST by Rory Parks

While this may seem like overreaction to one strong performance against a suspect defensive unit, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that Ryan Fitzpatrick may remain the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback even when Jameis Winston returns from suspension after the team’s Week 3 matchup against the Steelers.

But that may have more to do with logistics than anything else. The Week 3 game is a Monday night contest, so Rapoport suggests that the Bucs could simply keep Fitzpatrick as the starter for Week 4 rather than have Winston make his 2018 debut on a short week.

However, Rapoport does say that Fitzpatrick’s run as the Bucs’ starting signal-caller could last for as long as he is playing well, and if he continues to perform as he did in his season-opening mastery of the Saints — which resulted in NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors — that would give Tampa Bay time to ease Winston into the flow of the season.

It is important to note that the Bucs continue to view Winston as their long-term quarterback. Obviously, the veteran journeyman Fitzpatrick is no threat to dethrone Winston on a permanent basis, and Tampa Bay is excited to see what Winston can do when he does return to the field with a talented set of receivers and new play-caller Todd Monken.

Rapoport also writes that Winston’s $20.9MM fifth-year option for 2019, guaranteed for injury only, will not have any bearing on when he returns. The Bucs will not keep their former No. 1 overall pick on the shelf to avoid triggering that guarantee, and they fully intend to reinsert Winston into the starting lineup as soon as they feel it is in their best interest to do so (which may still be in Week 4).

Buccaneers Move Roster To 53

September 1st, 2018 at 5:28pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Buccaneers have made the following transactions as they move to 53 players:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Released:

Placed on injured reserve:

Placed on NFI:

Placed on suspended list:

NFC South Notes: Bucs, Winston, Saints

July 20th, 2018 at 10:51am CST by Zachary Links

Earlier this month, Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston dumped his agents. Apparently, he won’t have a hard time finding new representation. Winston is expected to get pitches from CAA, Athletes First (David Dunn), Joel Segal and other agents hoping to work with him, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.

Winston reportedly fired Greg Genske and Kenny Felder because the bulk of their experience is in baseball. With one year to go on his rookie deal plus a 2019 fifth-year option worth $20.9MM (guaranteed for injury only), Winston reportedly wants to go with a tried and true football agency to help negotiate his next deal. Still, the timing of his switch was suspicious as it came just moments after Winston’s reps negotiated a settlement in which he will miss the first three games of the 2018 season for his alleged sexual misconduct with an Uber driver.

Many are wondering whether Winston will have a long-term future with the Buccaneers, but the league’s top agents clearly still believe in his prospects going forward.

Here’s more from the NFC South:

  • The Saints gave up their 2019 first-round pick to go from No. 27 to No. 14 this year, where they picked defensive end Marcus Davenport. It was a big gamble, but coach Sean Payton tells Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com that the opportunity to add Davenport was too good to pass up. “It’s something we felt that could help our team right now,” Payton said of the trade. “And obviously there is downside and you give up some compensation and you give up some flexibility next year. But we are worried about this year, too, and our focus is on winning this year, and that was the cost to move from where we were in the first round to getting really into a different part of that round.”
  • This week, the Falcons informed Julio Jones that they will not be giving him a new deal this year.
  • Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis sounds like he wants to play beyond 2018.

Buccaneers’ Jameis Winston Changes Agents

July 2nd, 2018 at 9:26am CST by Zachary Links

After reaching a compromise with the league on his suspension, Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston has fired his agents, according to PFT. The change has been in the works for a few months, but the timing is still curious. 

Under the league’s personal conduct policy, Winston could have easily been suspended for up to six games after being accused of sexual assault. Instead, Winston’s reps – with help from the NFLPA – negotiated a settlement in which he will miss the first three games of the 2018 season. The suspension also comes with the caveat that Winston could be banned from the league if he commits another infraction.

According to one source, Winston simply wants agents with more experience in the NFL to negotiate his next contract. Winston, for now, is under team control for the next two years as he enters the final year of his original rookie deal plus his 2019 fifth-year option worth $20.9MM. His previous agents – Greg Genske and Kenny Felder – are well-known in the baseball world, but have yet to work out a football contract on this level.

It’s possible that bigger agents will want to steer clear of Winston given his damaged reputation, but the Bucs QB still has tremendous earning potential. If the former first round pick puts up career numbers in 13-game season, he could command a lucrative extension from the Bucs to put him near the top of the QB market.

Suspension notes: Winston, Turbin, Colts, Darby

June 29th, 2018 at 7:02pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

More information continues to trickle out about the suspensions handed down this week. One part of the Jameis Winston case that flew a bit under the radar was the involvement of Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby. When the allegations against Winston first surfaced last November, Darby came to Winston’s defense and insisted that Winston was innocent and said he was in the car during the Uber ride in question.

During the NFL’s investigation that followed, Darby reportedly backtracked. He told investigators he “no longer recalled” the Uber ride, per ProFootballTalk. Despite his initial defense of Winston and his now apparently conflicting statements, it looks like Darby is in the clear. An NFL spokesman told Aaron Kasinitz of PennLive that Darby “will not face punishment” from the league (Twitter link).

Here’s more on the recent suspensions:

  • Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star suspects that the Colts have known about Robert Turbin‘s four game suspension for a while. He notes that the team has deflected from talking about him all offseason and that the Colts have kept him away from the media (Twitter link).
  • Turbin’s suspension will cost him $235K according to Mike Chappell of Fox59. Chappell says “no one should understate the possible impact of Turbin’s absence” and writes that the Colts were counting on him to fill a big role with Frank Gore no longer with the team.
  • Between his base salary, portions of his signing bonus he’ll have to pay back, and loss of roster bonuses, Winston’s three game suspension will end up costing him a total of $1.14MM according to former NFL agent and current CBS Sports analyst Joel Corry (Twitter link). The total could rise to $1.42MM depending on how the roster bonuses are calculated, he notes.

NFL Could Ban Winston For Future Violation

June 28th, 2018 at 2:35pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL has suspended Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston for the first three games of the 2018 regular season, but another violation of the league’s personal conduct policy could have much larger implications. In its announcement of the suspension, the NFL indicated that a future violation would result in “more substantial discipline, including a potential ban from the NFL.” 

Winston’s three-game ban was the outcome of negotiations between the NFL, NFLPA, and Winston’s camp. The league reserves the right to suspend players for six games for violations involving domestic violence, so it appears the league insisted on a compromise in which Winston would face more serious consequences if he commits another serious off-the-field transgression.

Lifetime bans are uncommon in the NFL, but they have been handed down in the past. Similarly, we’ve seen players hit with indefinite suspensions, as was the case with former Cardinals linebacker Daryl Washington. It’s impossible to know right now whether the league’s stance on Winston is simply tough talk or if the NFL would actually levy a lifetime ban against Winston in the event of another personal conduct policy violation.

In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon, the Buccaneers said they were “disappointed that [Winston] put himself in a position that has been found to violate the policy.” If Winston does not perform up to par in 2018, it’s conceivable that his off-the-field incident will factor into his future with the team. The Buccaneers exercised Winston’s fifth-year option for 2019 – worth nearly $21MM – but it is guaranteed for injury only.

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