Leaner Jameis Winston putting in work before his second NFL season
An NFL player's first offseason, the one after his rookie year, is of the utmost importance and how he handles it can signal a lot to his team about his commitment and potential. Heading into the draft, young players are training for the combine and pro days, drills that don't always translate onto the field. And once he's drafted, he's thrown into the deep end, learning on the fly, in the classroom, in the weight room, on the field.
With all that said, it sounds like Jameis Winston is acing his first offseason.
The number one pick last year, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Winston has lost weight, and shed the spare tire that made him the butt of many pre-draft jokes.
In a story on Winston's offseason and development, the Tampa Bay Times' Rick Stroud writes the 22-year old is a "svelte 230 pounds and falling, making him a fraction of the quarterback that took the NFL by storm."
Winston chatted with reporters earlier this week, as the Bucs gathered for the start of their offseason program (teams that have new head coaches are allowed to start up to two weeks earlier than teams that didn't change coaches). He said that at the Pro Bowl, he took note of the physical conditioning of other players, like the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson. Winston hired Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's former trainer, and also worked with team strength coach Dave Kennedy.
Coach Dirk Koetter said there were many mornings this offseason he'd look out his office window at 7:30 a.m. and see Winston, alone, running sprints with a resistance parachute tethered to his waist.
"I do believe I get better every day," Winston said. "And I look good."
Winston also has spent a good deal of time with Mike Evans, on and off the field, after Koetter told him he'd like to see the quarterback and receiver develop better chemistry.
A major question mark when he was drafted thanks to a number of incidents at Florida State, Winston has made one other change: he and his girlfriend were baptized last month, and he quoted Bible scripture as he chatted with reporters.
"If you're trying to push leadership on guys, that guy is not going to want to follow you," Winston said. "Me and the Chaplain, Doug (Gilcrease), we were talking about biblically what leadership means. Leadership means to serve others. As long I as I can serve the guys around me, I feel like I'm doing a good job of being a leader to them and I know they will do anything for me just like I will for them."
Sounds like the makings of a franchise quarterback.
