As he heads into the middle of a make-or-break season, Jameis Winston is proving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should be ready to move on.
It’s rare for a quarterback taken No. 1 overall in the draft to play out the final year of his rookie contract. But that’s what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did with Jameis Winston this year, with some hope new head coach Bruce Arians would unlock and unleash a different player.
With 58 interceptions and 18 lost fumbles in his first four seasons (56 games), turnovers have been a big issue for Winston. In Week 1 this season against the San Francisco 49ers he didn’t disappoint on that front, throwing three interceptions.
But then, Winston threw just two interceptions over the following four games (130 pass attempts), with multiple passing touchdowns in the last three heading into Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. Maybe he had turned over or a new leaf, with a lack of turnovers.
On Sunday in London, it was not to be. Winston threw an interception on the first play of the game, setting a Carolina field goal to open the scoring. By halftime, he had been sacked six times by the Panthers with three giveaways (two interceptions and one fumble). Three more interceptions came in the second half, including one late in the fourth quarter that killed Tampa Bay’s remote chances to complete a rally.
Thanks to a deficit of two scores for a big chunk of the second half, Winston threw for a volume-driven 400 yards as he went 30-for-54 through the air against Carolina. He also passed for a two-point conversion and ran for another, to help offset the interceptions and salvage a decent day for his fantasy owners that deployed him.
But the Buccaneers aren’t playing fantasy football, where stats alone drive value. They are 2-4 after Sunday’s loss, with two of those losses easily pinned on Winston’s erratic play. The 2015 first overall pick had a lot to prove this season, and all he’s really shown is that he’ll be elsewhere with no guarantee of a starting job next season.