New year, same Jameis Winston for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Hopes of Jameis Winston finally breaking out in year five may have been extinguished after Sunday’s lackluster performance for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It takes some quarterbacks longer to fully mature than others. For Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston, that day may never come.

After back-to-back 5-11 seasons, the Buccaneers turned things over to head coach Bruce Arians in hopes that he’d turn things around. Behind a fifth-year quarterback, things didn’t start off as planned.

Against a San Francisco 49ers defense that ranked 28th in points allowed a year ago, Winston threw for 166 yards and a single touchdown. Struggling to push the ball down the field all day, the former Florida State Seminole averaged just 6.15 yards per attempt. He also threw three interceptions in the second half.

One of them came in the third quarter:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1170822721581637634

The other came in the midst of a comeback effort:

Per ESPN Stats & Info, this was the 17th time in Winston’s career that he’s thrown multiple interceptions. That figure puts him in sole possession of first place among all quarterbacks in the NFL since 2015. Including Sunday’s performance, Winston has played 57 games in his career thus far and has 61 interceptions.

Now 25 years old and entering the final season of his contract with Tampa Bay, questions may arise as to whether or not Winston will ever improve his play. His extremely risky — and oftentimes reckless — nature doesn’t bode well for success in the NFL and now that he’s built so many bad habits over the years, he may not be able to reverse them.

Set to become a free agent following the conclusion of the 2019 season, Winston has yet to lead the Buccaneers to the playoffs in four opportunities. If he continues to play like he did in Week 1, that number will rise to five. Prospective shoppers may be reluctant to spend on a player who hasn’t won at the highest level.

With an opportunity to start the season off on a high note in front of the home crowd at Raymond James Stadium, Jameis Winston struggled immensely. To say the least, Arians will have his work cut out for him moving forward.