Is a one-game suspension possible for Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston?

So here we are. Over six months since an Uber driver alleged that Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston groped her and we may finally have a decision on the horizon from the league.

Joe Bucs Fan noted in an article Tuesday that the likely scenario is that Winston is suspended for the season opener against New Orleans based on their information. Then we have another report on Wednesday, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, where he states the Bucs’ signal caller will receive “something” and would be shocked if he receives multiple games. He adds that his assumptions are more than an educated guess based on info “he can not reveal at the time”.

Both appear to have information disclosed to them off the record where they can formulate that type of response.

This could be the likely outcome for several reasons. For starters, a league source revealed to me that they are still looking into the background of the claims. That is the league doing some heavy research into whether or not the story is true, trying to find some concrete evidence because things just weren’t adding up.

Then you have the shield, which can not be represented in a bad light in any form. A one-game suspension means the NFL was unable to find anything to suspend Winston for the first quarter of the season. But since Winston was “in the news” negatively, the league would still want to impose punishment for “representing” the shield badly, they have to do something.

There has not been any official word as of yet. Stroud does seem to feel the league will announce something on it before the break for the dead period, some time before July 4. But piecing everything together leads me to believe suspending Winston for Week 1 is very likely — whether it is fair or not.