Imagine a time in the NFL where longtime backup quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick pretty much forces a team to bench their franchise quarterback. Just kidding, there’s no need to imagine it, folks. The time has come. Just a few years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent their first-overall pick on Florida State’s Heisman winning quarterback, Jameis Winston. Although he showed some promise in the pro’s early on, he’s been trending downwards since his rookie season back in 2015.
Ever since the draft process, Jameis Winston has been a handful. From his sexual assault accusations while in college, to his infamous supermarket incident before the draft where he was caught stealing crab legs. Winston has been a liability for his off-field incidents ever since the Bucs started scouting him.
Apparently, Winston didn’t learn his lesson with the first couple of incidents, though. The Bucs QB found himself in some hot water in 2017 with his incident with an Uber driver that has Winston currently serving a suspension from the NFL, and that will also get him sued.
Now, add the off-field incidents along with the fact that Ryan Fitzpatrick is tearing up defenses, and the Buccaneers should have a no-brainer decision of rolling with ‘Fitzmagic’ rather than handing the keys over to Winston the second he returns.
What should the next move be?
If the Buccaneers don’t have any intentions of releasing Winston in the near future, then the least they could do is roll with the hot hand. Nobody expected the Bucs to catch fire, especially with their starting quarterback out of the picture. Now that it’s happening, it’s becoming obvious that Fitzpatrick has built up a better connection with his receivers a lot quicker than Winston did. As a matter of fact, even after 16 games, Winston was still struggling to utilize his weapons to its full potential.
Through two weeks, Fitzpatrick leads the NFL in passing yards, passer rating, and is second in passing touchdowns with eight tosses. And Fitzpatrick wasn’t exactly playing against scrubs either. He helped the Buccaneers offense drop 48-points against the New Orleans Saints, and 27-points against the Philadelphia Eagles. Both playoff caliber teams, who had top defenses in 2017.
This week, the Buccaneers will host the Pittsburgh Steelers for a Monday night matchup. Seeing as though the Steelers got off to a rough start, they are coming with all they got this week. If Fitzpatrick displays another dominant performance, the Bucs have no choice but to keep Winston on the bench when he returns the following week. If they go back, it could go down as one of the most foolish moves of 2018.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
