By GEORGE DIAZ
By GEORGE DIAZ
Tribune News Service
Jameis Winston will be the No. 1 draft pick and a Tampa Bay Buc on Thursday, April 30.
It’s the obvious call, and the right one, despite the controversial party favors that will welcome him into the elite core of professional football players.
You don’t have to be an NFL draftnik like Mel Kiper to see this coming. Quick memo for Mel: 1982 called and wants its haircut back.
That said, it’s not even a close shave between Winston and the other top quarterback prospect, Marcus Mariota. It’s all slippery-meet-slope for Mr. Mariota, who is likely going to drop all the way down to sixth and become the perfect fit for the New York Jets, who have a lot of fancy receivers and no one to throw them the ball.
The Bucs have no such issues. Mike Evans is an emerging superstar and Vincent Jackson is a veteran keeper. Check out his bank account after the Bucs decided to keep him despite a $12-million cap hit this coming season.
Barring a Bizzaro World turn of events, the Bucs are also going to bank big money on Famous Jameis. Or is it Infamous Jameis?
We all know the narrative: Winston is a high-risk high-reward guy, based on character issues. He is either just a misunderstood soul prone to a few college hijinks or harbors a dark side relevant to rape allegations that remains a moral deal-breaker for a lot of people.
Winston was never charged with a crime, but the residual indignation — and the character question — remains the focal point of any draft conversation.
But the Bucs are making a prudent business decision. He is the potential franchise quarterback, a guy who doesn’t come around often in the yearly scoop-em-up dynamics of the NFL draft.
For every Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford and Peyton Manning, there’s a graveyard littered with busts: Tim Tebow, JaMarcus Russell, Vince Young and Tim Couch.
The Bucs have been punked as well, taking Josh Freeman with the 17th pick in 2009.
But it’s a lot less risky — on the field, anyway — going with Winston and lighting a candle to the Patron Saint of Personal Retribution.
Methinks that Winston has gotten the memo, too. He has shut down his Twitter account, @jaboowins, to try to cut down on the social-media noise leading up to the draft.
He also impressed the Bucs brass on a recent visit to the team’s facilities.
“He’s lively, he’s engaging, he’s incredibly smart,” general manager Jason Licht said in a video on Buccaneers.com that detailed Winston’s visit. “He confirmed all the things we thought about him going into this process, but the process isn’t done.”
No, it is not. But you get the sense that everyone has moved to the dotting T’s and crossing I’s phase.
Meanwhile, there will be more vetting and dodging analytical bullets from respected voices like college-football analyst Charles Davis, who wrote this recently on NFL.com:
“It would scare the heck out of me to be in the Bucs’ situation, weighing a decision on whether to pick Winston, despite his baggage.”
I agree with everything but the scaredy-pants part. The Bucs need Winston. Winston needs to validate their support by not screwing up and instead becoming an elite quarterback.
Perfecto.
“I just want them to know I am human, and I’m a great person, and this smile isn’t fake,” Winston says in the video.
Winston doesn’t have to be all that. It’s OK to fool anyone if the smile is fake. That’s not the deal-breaker. It’s the “great person” thing.
And Winston doesn’t have to be Father Teresa either.
The Bucs will settle for a guy who can withstand the pressure in the pocket as well as answer those cynics/haters/doubters/realists.
It’s a dicey but right call for a team that can’t afford to get punked again.