The questions regarding quarterback Jameis Winston aren’t going away. And former Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks realizes there’s only one way they will: Through the passage of time.
“It’s fair enough to have questions,” Brooks said Monday, via Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune. “It’s fair enough to have doubt. I wouldn’t expect anything different. I have certain questions that are going to have to be answered, whether this young man comes to the Bucs or goes elsewhere. But I’m still going to have a relationship with him. There are questions that I will let time answer.”
On one hand, Brooks is right -- whether the off-field concerns regarding Winston become actual problems at the next level depends on whether he has additional off-field problems in the NFL. But the challenge is to project the future based on the past. And the questions that have emerged in the past put all teams on notice that there could be problems in the future.
“History has allowed for certain opinions about him,” Brooks said of Winston. “Now, again, he has had a lot of say in it. But we can’t get away from the four-letter word: Time. As much as we want the answers about what he’s going to do, what he’s going to be, let’s for once give in to the proper but unpopular thing: time.”
Again, Brooks is right. But if time reveals problems in the future, whoever drafts Winston will have to answer tough questions about that, internally and externally.
That’s why the Buccaneers have done so much homework on Winston to explore the various off-field issues and to ascertain whether they provide actual hints of future issues. As part of that analysis, however, the Bucs need to ask themselves whether there’s a limit to the number of questions they’re willing to tolerate before opting for a player with fewer (or no) off-field issues and relatively comparable talent.
In the end, that question could be answered by the magnitude of the offers, if any, that the Buccaneers receive for the privilege to slide into the No. 1 spot and take Winston.
