Mel Kiper has another mock draft out. Whereas he's gone with Marcus Mariota as the top pick over the past months, he's now taking Florida State's Jameis Winston instead.
Analysis: The bottom line is Winston is the most advanced on-field quarterback in the draft, and while the Buccaneers have a nice set of weapons for an emerging quarterback to utilize there's little evidence they have a future franchise quarterback on the current roster. Questions about Winston's maturity and off-field decision-making are more than fair and could have him written off some draft boards if he can't convince teams he can be a franchise leader. But on the field you get a big, durable, mobile, strong-armed talent with a high football IQ and an ability to read, anticipate and process at a very high level what defenses are trying to do. I would not draft with him with the goal of starting him in Week 1 -- his 2014 season proved there's work to be done -- but if Winston realizes his potential, he's a possible superstar.
It's interesting that we're seeing more and more of Jameis Winston at the top of the draft in the last couple of weeks. I don't know whether that's the consequence of a further examination of both player's on-field play, or whether off-field issues are becoming less of a focal point, or because writers are just bored with the monotony and want to try something else.
But having Winston as the top pick isn't particularly odd. Yesterday's poll about which player the Bucs should pick had him at the top of the list, too.