Jameis Winston Says He’s ‘Historically One Of The Best Quarterbacks To Ever Play The Game’

Bleacher Report – Moments after becoming the NFL’s first 30-interception QB since 1988, after what’d be his final game as a Buccaneer, [Jameis Winston] took the podium and became fed up with questions about the picks. He told the world then, sternly, that if he fixes this one issue, “I’m going to be the best. That’s bar none. You better check your sheet.” He’s glad he spoke up. He felt like those in the room were trying to make him out to be a terrible quarterback.

“I know what I’m worth,” Winston tells B/R by phone from Alabama. “And I know day in and day out, without publicly coming in and saying it, that historically I’m one of the best quarterbacks to play the game.”

“It’s a love of the game, bro. It’s bigger than me,” he says. “Do I feel like I’ve earned my stripes? I do. Do I feel like I’m better than a lot of starting quarterbacks in this league? I do. But God has a plan that I haven’t even thought of yet. I have to respect this game first. Respect is earned.

“So if a team believes I’m not good enough to be their starting quarterback, OK, let me earn my way back up. I’ve done it my whole life. It’s not like it’s just starting to happen.”

Winston has a master plan to become an NFL starter again, one set into motion the instant that 2019 season concluded.

He went vegan, losing 17 pounds and counting. He had Lasik surgery to improve his vision. He’s fixing the interception problem. Drill to drill. He’s now learning from a Canton-bound quarterback.

Let’s start this off with some disclosures. I like Jameis Winston. I historically did not like Jameis Winston with some of his legal issues and mistreatment of women. Jameis won me over more last year largely due to the fantasy football roller coaster he presented. There were tremendous highs with his 33 touchdowns for a Bucs team with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. There were equally massive lows with those 30 interceptions, many of them due to Jameis misreading situations to catastrophic extents.

But I’m a sucker for a gunslinger, as a fan and a daily fantasy sports analyst. And that’s the kind of mindset that Jameis Winston brings to the field everyday. He’s all variance. A six-TD day? Always in play for Jameis Winston. The Ryan Fitzpatrick six-interception special? Also always in play for Jameis Winston. Breshad Perriman looked like Randy Moss in his three games as Jameis’s No. 1 wide receiver as he averaged 5.6 catches and 116 yards along with 1.3 TDs per game.

It’s safe to wonder at what point confidence teeters on dangerous overconfidence for Jameis Winston given that the league may have given him a bit of a reality check this offseason with a complete lack of starting QB offers. At the same time, if anyone has to believe in Jameis, it’s himself. A year to reset his approach, get in better shape, learn from Sean Payton and Drew Brees, all of those things can get him ready for his next shot.

The Bleacher Report feature gives you some hope as it breaks down his offseason training, a heavy focus on decision making during exhaustion. Jameis says all the right things about switching between “attack mode” and “no-attack mode” at quarterback. He talks with enthusiasm about getting in on all of Brees’s workouts and Sean Payton’s excitement over his game. He calls playing the Bucs twice a year as a “positive” for why he went to the Saints. There’s hope he can turn it around at just 26 years old.

Either way, one thing is for sure: no crab leg will be safe when Drew Brees misses a game this season and Jameis Winston gets turned loose. Here’s hoping that the opponents and the crabs come ready for the onslaught:

Check us out on TWITTER, where we talk sports, share articles, and have lots of giveaways!