Jameis Winston: Full scouting report for Florida State QB

Maturity

This has its own category for Winston because of his many off-field transgressions. I’m not going to summarize or debate them here because others have done that far more eloquently than I could. I’ve discussed Winston’s maturity before and I stand by what I said back in September: he needs to grow up. There is a huge difference between on-field and off-field maturity. In college you can get by if you’re immature, but the if you’re still acting like a kid at the next level the NFL will chew you up and spit you out so fast you won’t know what happened.

During the draft process Winston is going to have to convince teams that he’s ready to be a man and lead a franchise on and off the field, because football at the next level is a job, not just a game. Will he be willing to put in the work necessary to become great? Nothing that I have seen suggests he’s going to be ready to do that in a few short months. I’m also not sure a team could stash Winston on the bench behind a veteran and still keep him engaged. He seems like the kind of guy who needs to have pressure on him to thrive.

Winston has four months to convince NFL teams he’s ready to stop being a dumb kid and start being a man. It’s not going to be an easy sell.

Next: Final Analysis