The Buccaneers formally introduced Jameis Winston at a One Buc Place press conference the other day. It was hardly a media crucible for the NFL’s controversial number one draft pick. Lots of softball questions made it possible. A winning smile made it more presentable.
It went well.
And that helps for now.
But Winston, as we well know, doesn’t just bring baggage, he brings his own carousel.
He’s not just asking the Bucs and their fan base and sponsors for a second chance. He’d like chance number six, for those counting at home. And if you know the suspension-resulting obscenity (not “vulgarity”) he shouted in the FSU student center or you’ve read the police report of that sexual assault/consenting adults dichotomy, you would like Marcus Mariota even more.
Here are two take-aways from Winston’s Tampa debut. First, he’s lucky to have role model Lovie Smith–and not, say, the discipline-challenged Raheem Morris–for a head coach.
Second: wicked stagecraft.
The newly-minted millionaire quarterback with the high football I.Q. can handle a script. He has done–and may continue to do–dumb, as well as disgusting, things, but he’s not dumb. He may be as affable and sincere as he seemed, or he may be a self-absorbed operator knowing this was show time and he was being asked to start earning his money.
We’ll find out. The success of this underachieving franchise–and the jobs of its key operatives–ride on how he plays the game under center and how he lives his life under scrutiny.
Before the Q&A began, he profusely thanked everyone who has positively impacted him, including Buccaneer management. He thanked “Coach (Lovie) Smith” and “(GM) Mr. (Jason) Licht.” He also professed gratitude to the Glazer family, curiously referencing the co-chairmen brothers as “Bryan, Edward and Joel.” That’s surprising familiarity for a 21-year-old, regardless of draft status and an eight-figure contract. The Glazers looked more smitten than surprised.
Whatever the press-conference question, Winston was even money to work in “blessed” in his response. As in: “I’m just ready to do positive things. I’m blessed to be here.” He even inserted it into his circuitous rationale for cluelessly posting that draft party Instagram snapshot showing him posing with, uh, crab legs. “I was just showing thanks to a dear friend of mine that I was blessed to have him provide the party for my family with the crab legs,” he said. He really did.
As to that big contract, Winston was pitch perfect. “My money is going to be for my family,” he promised. “I’m rich on happiness.”
He said Derrick Brooks, as classy a Buccaneer as there ever has been, is “like my dad. One day I want to be just like him.” Nailed it.
He called the football field his “sanctuary.” And he wasn’t just pleased and pumped to be drafted number one overall by the Bucs, he was also “grateful that they accepted me.”
Ironically, his go-to phrase was “Actions speak louder than words.” Will they ever.