Captain Fear
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- Mar 20, 2019
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Most businesses tend to choose the devil they know over the devil they don’t. For the Buccaneers, their quarterback plan could initially include chasing an angel or two.
Although coach Bruce Arians has done an excellent job of keeping his cards close to the vest regarding Jameis Winston, Arians has created a sense of ambivalence that could actually make it harder to keep Winston, if Arians and the Bucs eventually choose to do so.
It could be that, as Arians hinted in not-so-subtle fashion this week, the Bucs will call Tom Brady and Philip Rivers once free agency starts. But they need to account for the possibility that they won’t get either. And if they don’t, that could be when the Bucs retreat to Winston.
There’s a calculated risk in that strategy, obviously. By the time they turn back to Jameis and his 30 interceptions, Jameis and his 5,109 passing yards could be long gone.
That’s the hardest part of the equation to assess. No reports of specific team interest have emerged as to Winston, which suggests there currently is little or none. It’s entirely possible, however, that some teams are waiting to see whether the Bucs apply a tag to Winston.
And that’s really the key moment as it relates to Winston. If he’s not tagged, he’ll have a straight shot to the open market. That’s when Winston could suddenly find himself the target of interest elsewhere.
Regardless of how it plays out, any effort by the Buccaneers to re-sign Winston may require recent damage to the relationship to be undone. Possibly with a Donovan McNabb-style financial apology.