Fantasy Football: How to handle the Jameis Winston quandary

I took a chance on him this past year in one of my money leagues and it failed miserably. Luckily, I selected him as my number two starter as I had enough sense to take Deshaun Watson several rounds before. But get this. Winston ended up being one of my final picks in a 16 round draft. Things were winding down at that point and everyone was just taking shots in the dark with those picks.

When I was on the clock in one of those final rounds, I knew I had to get a backup quarterback in case Watson got injured during the season (thankfully that didn’t happen!). I was scanning the draft board for remaining signal-callers and I narrowed it down to two. It was between famous Jameis and Lamar Jackson. Much like a lot of other folks at the time I went for the shiny object with all the bells and whistles.

Winston’s stats in 2018 drew me in, and even though I had a hunch Jackson was going to have a pretty good season, I certainly didn’t foresee the type of production he wound up having. Needless to say, Winston didn’t hurt me in my fantasy season. I ended up going 10-3 in this particular league and lost in the semifinals to a very good team who I shall keep anonymous.

I ended up dropping Winston midway through the year because I grew frustrated with his inconsistent production and settled for someone like Derek Carr. Luckily, I didn’t have to rely on any of those guys as Watson remained healthy and was a steady presence every week. Had he gotten hurt though I would have been banging my head against the wall wishing I took Jackson over Winston in the draft.

Others weren’t so fortunate though. Winston was a hit or miss pick as some people won their leagues because of him and others lost miserably as well. That’s the nature of the beast when you have a guy as volatile as Winston on your roster.

To me, that is just too risky and not worth all the pain and agony to deal with in a 16-game season. The best thing to do is to steer clear of him completely in 2020 especially if you are like me and can’t deal with such aggravation. I’d rather take my chances with someone like Kyler Murray as my secondary man considering that he is still developing and has the potential to be someone special in the NFL.

Winston is who he is and that is a gunslinger with amazing arm talent that makes poor decisions half the time. If you have the stomach the Jameis coaster than by all means go for it. But heed these words and don’t say I didn’t warn you when his turnovers begin to impede his production once again next year.