Super Bowl LIV is less than a week away as the San Francisco 49ers prepare to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami. Once the big game ends, teams around the league will start to look towards the offseason and free agency, hoping they’ll find that missing piece to their own Super Bowl puzzle.
For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who hold the 14th overall pick in April’s draft, there are a number of different ways they could go. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com may have had the most surprising selection in his first mock draft, with Oregon QB Justin Herbert going to Tampa Bay.
But, that scenario assumes that Herbert will not only be available at the spot, but that the Bucs would have definitively decided to move on from Jameis Winston, who despite throwing for over 5,000 yards this past season also became the first quarterback with at least 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a season.
Winston was playing on the fifth and final year of his rookie contract, and the Bucs still haven’t decided — at least not publicly — whether or not they’ll bring him back in 2020. Former NFL quarterbacks like Carson Palmer and Steve Young have advocated for Winston’s return, with Palmer saying it takes time to learn Bruce Arians’ system.
And now, you can add former Bucs QB Trent Dilfer to the growing list of former quarterbacks advocating for Winston’s return to the bay.
Per Dilfer (via the Tampa Bay Times):
“I think you have to bring him back for Year 2 under Bruce Arians. You’re not going to get anybody better for next year. Who are you going to get? Marcus Mariota? [Winston]’s just a high-ceiling, low-floor guy. If he was a mid-ceiling like I was and low floor, it makes sense (to get rid of him). His good is like what’s really good for other players around the league (better upside). And everybody understands Bruce needs to own some of this.”
Was that a little dig at Arians there at the end?
Either way, Dilfer is saying what most people are thinking: even if Tampa Bay got lucky enough to get a guy like Herbert, it’d just be a step back for the Bucs since they’d have to go through the growing pains of another quarterback learning Arians’ offense.
If Year 2 proves to be a bust for Winston, then the Bucs can part ways. Right now, it seems like the most logical landing spot in free agency for Winston is right back in Tampa Bay.
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