75 And Counting
April 1st, 2015
When the Bucs drafted blade-in-the-thigh, mattress-in-the-yard, three-strong-opening-seasons Mike Williams, former rockstar general manager Mark Dominik spoke openly about how his investigation into Williams went back to elementary school.
The result was Williams was one of the best fourth-round picks in franchise history.
Per pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-listening, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC Sports fame, the Bucs already have talked to 75 people from Jameis Winston’s world as part of their pre-draft investigation on him.
1. TAMPA BAY
Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State.Looked good with his 102-pass workout in Tallahassee on Tuesday, with 96 balls on target, but it might have been one of the more meaningless workouts in recent pro day history. If the Bucs—whose private eyes have interviewed more than 75 people from Winston’s past—don’t find any big problems with him, he’ll be the first pick on April 30.
Joe expects the Bucs to continue to grind away investigating Winston– as the NFL does its own work, as part of it’s latest sham effort to improve the perception of the league.
Man, if the Bucs only put that much effort into researching offensive linemen last year, Tampa Bay might have won the putrid NFC South and Josh McCown would be talking Super Bowl right now.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:01 pm
Hahaha he’s kinda got a point – Winston’s pro day should have consisted of following him around a Publix and then a party.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:02 pm
My brothers….put a smile on your face.
Swag, confidence, a relentless competitor and talent at the QB position are on their way to Tampa Bay.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:10 pm
75 is a hell of a lot of people. I will give them that.
I would hope that list would include the other players there on the night in question as well as Erica Kinsman herself.
IF, and it’s a huge IF, they did that I could get on board. my fear is they don’t ask the questions they don’t want the answers too.
you have to ask the answer the hard questions or everything else is mute. and don’t give me this “he was cleared” BS. The judge himself said something bad happened that night, and if TB sweeps it under the rug, like I expect them too, this could come back to haunt them.
and don’t get me wrong, you’ll never get a straight answer, but you cn get the truth through body language, deflection etc, etc.
in the end we’ll probably never know, but it would be nice to be able to support the guy. I just can’t based on what my gut tells me, which is based on his actions and FSU’s.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:11 pm
Joe is out of his damn mind if he thinks that only a O-line is holding Josh McCown back from the playoffs let alone a Superbowl!!!
April 1st, 2015 at 1:14 pm
@Joe
Mariota plans to stay in Hawaii for draft
http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft2015/story/_/id/12595506/marcus-mariota-plans-hawaii-family-nfl-draft
April 1st, 2015 at 1:15 pm
I wonder how many of those 75 are haters trying to drag him down. It’s just human nature. Out of so many, there are bound to be a few. I also wonder how many legitimately have something negative to say. It’s an interesting process. Most of us only need 3 references for a job application and that’s bs.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:17 pm
one might point out that in the end Mike Williams turned out to be what they thought he was. a guy with talent, that lacked common sense.
once he got paid his head was completely out of the game. love the guy, but not a real good example if your looking long term.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:19 pm
@Joe
Not sure how long it’s been there, but I like your “hot stories” link to the side. Good touch.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:22 pm
Winston is lucky he doesn’t have to pass Schiano conditioning test to see if you’ve been staying in shape during the offseason…. Jaboo the Hut would never even see the field. With all of his (over)confidence, he has no personal pride or self respect. How do you not lift weights when you’re about to be a professional level athlete?!?? What a loser.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:24 pm
I am pretty sure Tampa will draft Winston, at least I hope we do.
Winston to V Jax and Evans, if we can protect him, will win us many games.
Like Vince Evans, Winston is a determined competitor who always wants to win.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:24 pm
job references are meaningless for the most part in my mind.
I mean what moron would give someone a name as a reference that was going to speak badly about them. I’ve had it happen, but usually you sense it even before the reference comes back bad.
and a lot of times, it’s not what they will say, but what they won’t say or lightly imply something. it’s up to the person checking the reference to read the tea leaves.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:36 pm
With all of the money and everything else at stake, I would guess that the Glazers don’t sweep anything under the rug.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:41 pm
anything less than speaking straight to the guys there the night in question and having all of them say straight up, off the record of course, something to the effect of.
“look man that girl was a straight up cleat chaser that was on his jock from the get go and only freaked out cause she saw us taping her and didn’t want mommy to find out”
is an implication of guilt. no comment is an implication of guilt. just like when you have to call HR, you know the guy did something very wrong or at best was under performing.
April 1st, 2015 at 1:42 pm
Funny how everyone expects the NFL to police players… There is an NFLPA. They are just as accountable as the owners and in my opinion more so.. Amazing to me people hold the Owners accountable for Players behavior. This includes the concussion bull$hit that has ruined the game. If I was Richardson last year, there’s no way in hell I’m paying Hardy $13.0M to not play. I’m paying him he’s playing.
April 1st, 2015 at 2:02 pm
@robert9,
I guess you’re just going to have to trust the Bucs in this instance. As you said, they should ask the players “off the record”, which means you and I will never hear about the question or the answer.
April 1st, 2015 at 2:08 pm
robert 9 Says:
April 1st, 2015 at 1:41 pm
” no comment is an implication of guilt”
Says no one that knows anything about law. Ever.
April 1st, 2015 at 2:09 pm
yeah, I know Bill. that’s the problem.
given their body of work last year it’s hard to have a lot of faith in their evaluations.
i.e. for the LT they paid who flopped. if they were to have checked his references and got a comment like “he’s a solid rotational player” ……translation-this guy is not a starter!!
just hard to trust them given last year. that’s what I mean when I say they hear what they want to, or have to ask the right/hard questions.
April 1st, 2015 at 2:10 pm
@ lovie
let’s see, I check references on a regular basis and my wife is a lawyer.
anything else?
April 1st, 2015 at 2:27 pm
It’s not about the law in this case. The law portion was unfounded… repeatedly. This is about the court of public opinion. That girl has already ruined him.
April 1st, 2015 at 3:20 pm
1st pick in the draft, not ruined
April 1st, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Robert9…your wife is a lawyer. C’mon man, I’m sure she told u Willie Meggs would have prosecuted Winston’s arse if he could have. If there was enough evidence I’m sure. Not just because FSU alerted Winston to rhe allegations or TPD secind guessing her story. She changed the description of the guy, said she was drugged, had multiple semen samples but was adamant about having been raped by just Winston? Her story doesn’t add up either. If his story stinks, then hers reeks! Just from what I have read.
April 1st, 2015 at 4:10 pm
[Last warning. Joe is pretty sure you know why you are close to the edge. Again, it is your call if you want to continue commenting. It seems only those with agendas can’t move on when the justice system and Winston’s future employer have. There are plenty of places you can spread your screed that Jameis Winston is somehow the next Darren Sharper. Just not here. — Joe]
April 1st, 2015 at 5:03 pm
guess i’ll move along then…..
April 1st, 2015 at 6:22 pm
On February 20, 2015 Robert 9 said he was raped by a college QB.
Now he says he is married to a lawyer.
I’m guessing that a lot of things that Robert 9 says are all in his little mind.
April 1st, 2015 at 10:46 pm
Are we really gonna try to use Mike Williams as an example of how taking a chance on a player with questionable maturity issues after a thorough Buccaneers investigation is beneficial? If anything this causes me more concern. I have gone on record as saying that if the Buccaneers select Winston after they do all their homework on his off the field issues I would trust their decision. This article only makes me rethink that position.
April 2nd, 2015 at 9:02 am
R.O. – the purpose of a union is not to keep its members in line, unfortunately. it is to use collective bargaining to push back on as many of the desired terms an employer wishes to impose on them, whether they are reasonable or make business sense or not. this is why the NFLPA is pushing back on discipline and testing that places a higher standard of character on its membership.