The offseason is the season of unbridled enthusiasm, and every NFL team has one or more Billy Mumphreys.
In Tampa, quarterback Jameis Winston sees the glass as half-or-more-full. The first press conference of his contract year consisted of plenty of big talk from a guy who has yet to prove that he’s a short-list franchise quarterback.
“My message to the fans is just, hey, get excited,” Winston said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “Get behind us. We’re going to win a lot of football games. I know y’all hear that every year, but this year we’re going to show you. So I don’t got to say much.”
They could show us. Every year, there’s a worst-to-first story in the NFL, and the hiring of coach Bruce Arians makes the Bucs a candidate to explode. They also could implode, if Winston continues to try too hard to do things that he’s simply not capable of doing.
Arians is capable of getting the most out of a quarterback, and he’ll surely get the most out of Winston. Whether that’s enough remains to be seen.