Buccaneers fans split on Jameis Winston vs. Marcus Mariota

Last weekend, we asked Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans who their team should pick with the first pick of the 2015 NFL draft. We gave them two options: Jameis Winston, or Marcus Mariota. The results were pretty surprising, to me at least: 52% favored Mariota, versus 48% for Winston.

This contrasts pretty heavily with an NFL Network poll, though that was taken from NFL fans in general, not just Buccaneers fans.

According to @NFLLive's #FanMockDraft, an OVERWHELMING majority of fans say the Bucs should take Winston No. 1! pic.twitter.com/TNn3b0MetL

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) March 26, 2015

But other polls among Bucs fan have similar results. The Tampa Bay Times' poll favors Mariota over Winston by a tiny margin, too. And the poll on the Bucs' official website shows a small preference for Mariota, too. Meanwhile, the very strong media consensus is that the team will end up taking Jameis Winston instead.

Those polls shouldn't really affect who the Bucs pick: they need to make up their minds as to who the best player is, and which player best represents their franchise. Being led by the fans is usually a mistake. But the contrast between the fans' opinions and the media's consensus as to what will happen is striking.