Jameis Winston vouches for Noah Spence in 2016 NFL draft

For the second year in a row, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are faced with a conundrum with their number one pick: do they take the best on-field player at their biggest position of need, even though he has some character question marks? Last year they said "yes" and ended up with Jameis Winston, who's stayed out of trouble since then and has looked terrific on the field.

This year, they're contemplating Noah Spence, the Eastern Kentucky defensive end who got kicked out of Ohio State for abusing XTC. He's a terrific pass-rusher, probably the best in the draft, but that's a hurdle for any team who wants to take him -- though Spence has reportedly passed every drug test in the past year. For his part, Jameis Winston thinks Noah Spence has put all of that behind him, or so he told reporters today. Jenna Laine has the quotes below.

.@Jaboowins said he knows @nspence94 personally. "He's a great guy. Works his tail off. All that stuff is behind him" #Bucs #NFLDraft

— JennaLaineBucs (@JennaLaineBucs) April 27, 2016

.@Jaboowins on @nspence94: "Didn't even know his situation, but I know he's a great person. I know his dad...Always a great friend of mine"

— JennaLaineBucs (@JennaLaineBucs) April 27, 2016

Well, that sounds good to me. Of course, Winston isn't the one actually making the picks, so his judgment isn't necessarily all that relevant. Jason Licht's the one who's going to have to untangle that knot. One thing that'll help: Spence sent all 32 NFL teams the results of his past 20 drug tests, according to Adam Scheffer.

Incidentally, we had a Facebook Live video chat where we touched on Noah Spence. You can check it out here.