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The Jury is still out for Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston. There are many out there who feel he should not be the franchise quarterback for the Bucs — doesn’t matter if it’s due to off or on the field issues.
However, you will find those who are or have been in the league that feel Winston is Tampa Bay’s guy. Anyone from players to coaches have spoke about the 24-year-old’s three-game suspension to start the 2018 season and there are many who feel he can bounce back from it.
Former Arizona Cardinals head coach and now CBS broadcaster Bruce Arians spoke to Greg Auman of The Athletic about the Winston situation (must subscribe to read full article). Arians was Ben Roethlisberger’s offensive coordinator while at Pittsburgh from 2007 to 2011, but came on to the Steelers’ coaching staff in 2004 when Big Ben was drafted. He knows a thing or two about quarterbacks who have gotten themselves in trouble while in the league.
He told Auman that Winston should be given a chance to get straighten things out.
“You can win the folks back.You just have to do the right thing, make good decisions and go out and lead your football team to wins.”
Wins won’t be good enough. Some already have their minds made up. So what truly matters is how the team approaches the matter, from ownership all the way down into the locker.
That’s how the Steelers moved forward.
“The locker room knew who Ben was, as did the coaching staff. Nobody ever questioned him in any way. It was just a matter of Mr. (Dan) Rooney biting the bullet and Ben biting the bullet and then we went 3-1 and went to the Super Bowl.”
That is what’s going on inside One Buc Place.
The staff and the players are behind Winston while ownership had no issues with the team picking up his fifth-year option. That may not mean much now, but it does mean that if he performs well in 2018, it almost guarantees that the team has no problems giving him a new contract.
And that’s a positive step forward.