Jameis Winston: Las Vegas Raiders
Back when Jon Gruden was a big-time ESPN analyst, as opposed to the Raiders’ head coach, he did a well-known series called “Gruden’s QB Camp,” in which he would sit with prominent draft-eligible quarterbacks and take them through their paces in interviews, whiteboard sessions and throwing drills. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently pointed out, one guy made a considerable impact on Gruden in those shows.
“I always remember Jon Gruden being a big Jameis Winston fan from our production meetings with him back when he was with ESPN,” Schefter said on the Feb. 19 episode of the “Rich Eisen Show.” “And so you wonder, would they have any interest in Jameis Winston; that would seem to make sense to me based on the way he felt.”
Well, given Gruden’s noncommittal responses to David Carr’s future with the franchise, this certainly would be fascinating. We all know the drill with Winston — big plays for both his own offense and enemy defenses, all the physical tools you’d want in a quarterback and the ability to adhere to different schemes, but always that rogue gene that has him writing checks with his arm that reality just won’t cash. If Gruden wants a guy with more physical potential than Carr, and he thinks he has the ability to tame Winston’s unfinished aspects, that would be an interesting fit.