The double standard in the coverage of the Jameis Winston situation

It’s all over social media. People are voicing their opinions over Buccaneers’ quarterback Jameis Winston’s latest transgressions. Many are upset due to Winston’s negligence, rightfully so. But there are some inconsistencies with how people truly feel, and here’s why.

Lots of the outrage has fed off of the strong words written by Tampa Bay Times’ columnist Tom Jones. His scathing attack on not only Winston but also ownership has added more fuel to an already growing fire — an attack .

On Monday, Bucs Nation’s James Yarcho wrote a piece on how Winston can repair his image. In it were some links I provided that made me look at some things a bit deeper. As Yarcho points out, Jones contradicts himself with the following:

Ben Roethlisberger can be forgiven.

Ben Roethlisberger is a Top 3 quarterback.

Roethlisberger — who has two rape allegations to his name AFTER he entered the league — has been forgiven and was viewed as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL by Jones. But he wants Winston to hit the road and feels there is no place for him in Tampa Bay.

I have to ask this. With time, why has it been OK to view Roethlisberger so highly? If that is the case, why not give Winston the same “courtesy?” Meaning, let him move on with the Bucs and see how his career plays out. We as a society apparently have done the same for Roethlisberger and also with a guy like Ray Lewis.

Look, before some of you get all riled up, this is in no way condoning what either Winston or Roethlisberger did. This is also not an attack on Jones nor any other media member that follows. This is to point out there is an obvious double standard to some point. And no matter how “great” a player is, it does not excuse him from scruitny for his off-the-field problems

Jones isn’t alone. There are others out there you can find by searching Google (which caches words within articles even though an article has been either deleted, altered, or the website itself no longer exists) or even searching on Twitter — like “Luke Easterling Roethlisberger” or “Damien Woody Roethlisberger” or even all over ESPN.

And also, the report of an Ex-Titans scouting director saying now that the choice of drafting Marcus Mariota was easy after Winston’s issues is comical. They are they same club that drafted Zach Mettenberger.

In Yarcho’s article, there is a poll (posted below) that shows many more Bucs fans feel Winston can repair his image. In fact, the margin compared to those who feel he can not is huge. So is the outrage just part of something happening on social media due to reactions from the media and not truly genuine? Perhaps not all of it.

Society has given high praise to Roethlisberger and many others despite their problems. You have to wonder why it seems like Winston won’t be given that same treatment.