Mar 31, 2015; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Jameis Winston throws during FSU Football Pro Day at the Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports
All of the sudden, NFL.com has at least two NFL personnel executives that see bust potential in Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. And of course, both executives were anonymous, not wanting their names attached to such a comment. NFL.com quoted one of them comparing Winston to former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell.
He said, “Lack of focus by JaMarcus is what I see in Winston. They’re physically talented, but during the course of a game they kind of lose their focus and just put the ball up for grabs. I see the body. I see the lack of focus. I see the same coach and system. Only Winston’s not as good an athlete and his arm isn’t as strong as JaMarcus’.”
Then NFL.com quoted the other one saying, “We’re looking at another guy (Winston) that’s a product of the system and has tremendous athletes around him,” the other personnel man said. “Oh, my goodness. Is this guy really going to be the first pick of the draft? You’d be drafting a quarterback that can’t run, has off-field problems, has no power in his legs and makes bad decisions on the field. Somebody’s going to make a horrible mistake.”
Then black sportscasters like Bomani Jones and Michael Smith hinted that there was some racism in the comments. So as a black sportswriter, I felt a certain responsibility so I went ahead and looked into it to see if there was any. And the conclusion is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton can stay at home and relax on this one.
Is it unfair that a young man that’s known for being a fiery leader and working hard gets compared to a guy that’s lazy and lackadaisical?
Absolutely!
But racist?
Naw, don’t think so.
They’re just playing the game.
Remember, in 2007, all the scouts played then Raiders owner Al Davis by rating him as the No. 1 quarterback. He was no where near as accomplished as Winston, the media just listens to what scouts say and make their board based on that. So when Davis took him, he became the biggest draft bust in NFL history and his name became the J-word.
Fast forward to 2014 and you have a guy that’s everything you want on the field but has off the field questions. And somehow, these anonymous scouts transferred his off-the-field questions to on the field. And the used the J-word (Russell) to possibly scare the Tampa Bay Buccaneers away from taking him.
That way, he could end up falling to where one of their teams picks.
Yes, the anonymous scouts actually want him.
Scouts talked Russell up because he was never that good and Winston down because he is.
And if anything is going to work, it’s the J-word (Russell)
It’s not racism, it’s the game!
Tell me you wouldn’t do it to help your team.
But I doubt it works this year.