NFL Scout: FSU QB Winston Still a Top 10 Draft Pick
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston’s Heisman Trophy and National Championship-winning redshirt freshman season last year has teams who project to have a high draft pick in 2015 and no good quarterback currently on the roster (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets come to mind) licking their chops at the prospect of drafted a QB as talented as Winston.
Despite his talent, many experts have speculated that Winston will drop out of the first round altogether due to his off-the-field issues. Those issues have piled up over time: a long list of questionable decisions including recklessly playing with a BB gun, stealing crab legs from a Publix supermarket, standing up on a table in the FSU Student Union and shouting obscenities for no apparent reason, and, worst or all, rape allegations.
But one NFL scout anonymously spoke to Sports Illustrated and stated that he believes Winston will still be a Top 10 pick. “Outside of the rape ordeal, which who knows what happened there, everything is just being immature,” the scout said. “How many times has somebody said something dumb in the cafeteria before? How many kids shoot a BB gun? It’s just dumb stuff that young guys do. He’s simply immature.”
This scout also said that he believe most teams rate Winston as a better prospect than Marcus Mariota, who many believe to be the front-runner for first overall pick in next year’s draft. Mariota does not carry any baggage like Winston but he is also less refined as a pocket passer.
The Seminoles are now undefeated and the rest of their schedule is soft, so they seem a lock to make the playoffs with a good chance of winning the big game once again. Back-to-back national titles would only help to solidify Winston’s spot as a Top 10 pick if he decides to move up to the pros next year.
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