Mike Evans Wasn’t High On Jameis
August 23rd, 2015
Based on new information, Joe’s guessing Mike Evans wasn’t one of the Buccaneers texting Jason Licht to draft Jameis Winston, America’s Quarterback, during the 2014 season.
Speaking on SiriusXM NFL Radio last week, Evans was asked about the Bucs’ new rookie savior.
Evans opening comment intrigued co-host Zig Fracassi.
“He surprised me a lot,” Evans said of Jameis. “He’s a really good player. I think he’ll be a good player in this league. I think he’s NFL-ready. He’s a very resilient guy. He’s a leader, and he’s a fun dude to be around.”
Surprised you how? Fracassi replied
“I wasn’t a big fan of Florida State,” Evans said. “I was an SEC-bias guy. … Jameis showed me some things when he came to One Buc.”
Joe’s got a similar vibe from various Bucs, that Jameis won them over when he got here and they were skeptical when he was drafted.
That’s old news, though. Jameis is now the clear leader of the offense.
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:17 pm
The Chosen One!
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Jameis still has to produce on the field in real NFL games to justify all of the oversell
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:20 pm
The SEC bias is hilarious to me. Outside of the mannings it hasn’t produced that many great QBs
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:26 pm
Mike wasn’t high on Jameis, but there were many fans high on crack that thought the Bucs weren’t going to draft him in the first place.
August 23rd, 2015 at 12:40 pm
I was in the draft Mariota camp. That said, I’m pleasantly pleased with Winston.
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:06 pm
Ditto here, not high on Winston in the beginning, complete reversal at present. I just heard a comment on BSPN radio, the loudmouth said Winston was going to be a bust matter of factly. I’d like to smash a sticky pecan pie in his face.
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:15 pm
I would be willing to bet that team spokesman, Gerald McCoy, desperate for wins and sick of watching shitty quarterbacks…was one of the players texting Jason Licht about Jameis.
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:51 pm
I was swayed from Mariota to James due to the lack of intensity with Mariota. I wanted Winston to be drafted by the time the draft came. All the hype will mean nothing if he doesn’t prove to be worth it.
We will know by the end of the season if he was worth it. RG3 wasn’t worth it, Cam Newton is a hell of an athlete but I don’t see him as an elite QB. Winston has the drive….he’s a team guy. I just hope in translates to Wins in the NFL.
I will say one thing, after two seasons….using the bad offensive line will no longer be a good excuse for James as it was not a good enough reason for Glennon to underperform. I think he will overcome the odds once he get’s broken in though.
I think if Lovie steps in and tries to control the offense, I can see winston and him butting heads. Hopefully Lovie lets the baller ball.
August 23rd, 2015 at 1:59 pm
By the way just saw this on my Fantasy website..Interesting to look up the stats on Newton Manning and Luck and see what they looked like in the preseason games of they’re rookie season. 1st 2nd and 3rd games just to see if they were “as advertised ” right out of the gate or not…
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:01 pm
I agree with Evans I’m somewhat biased when it comes to the SEC being the best college football conference with solid NFL calibre players but they aren’t known for producing good QB’s.
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:02 pm
Joe has zero idea who the players were — of course Jason Licht is not going to say. But the first person Joe thought of who may have texted Licht to draft Jameis was GMC.
Again, Joe has no clue who the players were. Just an educated guess one was GMC.
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:12 pm
The SEC is really overrated as a conference. They play no one of note OOC and they gets tons of credit in conference and take little penalty if they lose in conference.
Easy to play great defense when no one in conference has a great or even good offense and when you play cupcakes OOC.
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Lots of “SEC bias(ed) guys” (cough-gators-cough) were against drafting Jameis and made fools of themselves pre-draft – saying what a horrible person Winston was and that he would be a bust and calling him Jamarcus Winston etc etc etc.
Glad most of those aholes are gone from JBF and that the majority of even those who would have preferred Mariota have seen the light and now appreciate what we have in Jameis Winston. A true franchise quarterback who will eventually lead this team to the promised land.
I wish Mariota all the success he can muster in this league – but there is no doubt in my mind who the better QB long term will be. I believed it before the draft and everything Jameis has said and done since the minute he got to Tampa Bay has backed up that expectation.
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:30 pm
SEC overated? 7 years in a row national champs? Put Ohio St in SEC and play auburn and georgia or whoever in consecutive weeks…. Best football players in NFL come from SEC
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:36 pm
THIS JUST IN : Jameis Winston ends world hunger ! Sets sights on world peace ! LOL It’s no wonder some fans have outrageous expectations and were overly critical of the young mans performance against the Vikes. Don’t get me wrong, “I’m all in with Winston” and I think the kid has the “IT” factor that makes a great QB. So have patience (with the whole organization) my loyal Bucs brothers and sisters. This is going to be a fun year to be a Bucs fan ! #STAYLOYAL GO BUCS !!!!!!!
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:44 pm
The savior’s first miracle was to win a game at Ray Jay. His second miracle he fed the masses with 2 TDs and 1 running TD to beat the Titans. Then he walked into the EZ and a 10 win season. Final miracle he took his followers to the playoffs. Then he was betrayed by his defense.
#rejoice #thesavior #triangleoffense
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:49 pm
“I’d like to smash a sticky pecan pie in his face.”
Yeah, maybe a warm one, not hot, just warm enough to worry him.
August 23rd, 2015 at 2:51 pm
My biggest concerns with Winston are
#1- He will not be able to live up to all of the expectations that all of the PR oversell has put on his shoulders, and he feels the pressure to over-perform
#2- He won’t be able to live up to his full potential because of the players around him
Kid is still just 21 years old. Folks must give him time to grow up and get experience
August 23rd, 2015 at 3:05 pm
Let’s see if Rudy Stein can be the man.
August 23rd, 2015 at 3:07 pm
Ya judge college leagues by nfl talent. It’s not even close. Roll tide!
August 23rd, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Again….MM and JW are two different QB’s. I started in the MM camp because I feared Fameis off field baggage. He appears to be past that and I’m now happy with our selection.
But we should all understand something. That “competition” is OVER. Week one will give us a little bit but it’s just one game. Marcus Mariota could turn out to be a great QB and that will have NOTHING to do with how good Fameis becomes. They could BOTH end up as terrific players. One does not have to suck to make the other one good. I get the tension of one being good and the other a bust which would make the team with the bust second guess the draft pick. But I think both are going to be good. Given the state of our team I’m now firmly on the Fameis bandwagon. This team has been lacking in intangibles and a good locker room for a long long time. I think Fameis has the swag, work ethic, charisma, and enthusiasm to turn that around.
There is an old saying the plays into the Fameis MM discussions that we should all remember. You do not make your own furniture look any better by destroying your neighbors furniture.
August 23rd, 2015 at 3:43 pm
Everyone needs to be realistic about 2015. He’s going to have games where he absolutely sucks. Where even his own mother is going to deny he’s her kid once the final whistle blows.
I’m wondering how many fans are going to turn on him when that happens?
August 23rd, 2015 at 4:16 pm
Couldn’t agree more Stpetebucsfan. What Mariota does is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that Winston wins here. If Tampa starts winning, and Jameis is a big part of the transition, that is all that counts.
August 23rd, 2015 at 4:25 pm
this is clear from the obvious lack of effort saturday.
August 23rd, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Funny how people were screaming that Evans wanted Winston throwing to him because some coach said so. Oops
August 23rd, 2015 at 5:34 pm
Destinjohnny Says:
August 23rd, 2015 at 3:07 pm
Ya judge college leagues by nfl talent. It’s not even close. Roll tide!
Ok…people who say stuff like this irk me. Because check the numbers. SEC=54 drafted..ACC=47 drafted..and there is an ACC team “which will remain nameless because it invokes death threats” that has set the record for most players drafted in 3 yr span. So…”ya judge college leagues by NFL talent” right? But how come everybody was so down on the ACC last year and kept putting Big10, Big12 and Pac12 teams ahead of said team? Your theory sir, is bulls(p)it. It’s an agenda. Especially since your bowl record the last couple years or OOC records have been terrible. Just saying…
August 23rd, 2015 at 5:54 pm
Mariota would be a bust in the buc huddle. jameis has the support of the locker room. Either way down the line, things will settle in and JW will take us for a ride.
August 23rd, 2015 at 5:58 pm
Nice pic of Evans Joe………he looks a little haggard and perhaps angry?
Do you read National Inquirer much?
August 23rd, 2015 at 6:29 pm
I am scared about the fans like the poster above saying we will know by the end of the year if JW was the right pick. He even referenced RGIII who looked great after year 1. Most likely Winston will have some big ups and downs this year. Everyone needs to remember he is a rookie playing behind a bad o-line. We won’t know for a couple more seasons if he is the real deal. I think he will be very good but I won’t make a final judgement on him no matter what happens this season.
August 23rd, 2015 at 6:46 pm
I went to the University of Cincinnati. We have historically sucked in football and put most of our eggs in the hoops basket. So I have no dog in this feud over the best conference. Cincinnati has NEVER played in a good football conference, LOL.
As a more objective observer I can only say these things are cyclical. I understand the FSU frustration, and by proxy the ACC, FSU has been terrific and Jimbo has recruited as well as any coach in the nation with the possible exception of Urban at OSU and of course Saban at Bama. That’s three different conferences represented there.
I just don’t honestly believe anybody can say with certainty that the SEC is better than the ACC or Big 12. In any given year one could make an argument I guess but over the long haul all three conferences have super teams…FSU…OSU…and Bama. All three have great secondary teams…Auburn..Florida..LSU….Clemson..Ga Tech…Michigan State…Wisconsin and with Harbaugh I suspect Michigan rejoins those elite teams.
Year in and year out all those conferences field great teams. The debate is really fueled more by partisans than any reality.
But I love sports fans and the debates they have. It’s like FSU versus Florida.
Again I have no dog in the hunt and so I root for whichever team has the best chance to win a title for our state. For awhile that was Florida…more recently it’s obviously been FSU…again things are cyclical…I suspect the Gators will return to their former glory and that FSU will just keep on winning as well.
August 23rd, 2015 at 9:12 pm
The SEC had the worst QBs in College Football last season,Nick Marshall probably was the best. And now he’s trying to make it in the NFL as a Cornerback.Mike Evans should be thankful that the Bucs drafted Jameis.
August 23rd, 2015 at 11:05 pm
look at the history of the NFL and present day NFL….its elite players, great players, good players, ect all come from all over the country and from all of the power conferences mostly. I would say for most of the 90’s and early 2000’s, a quarter of the NFL pro bowlers were from Florida schools if i had to guess. Seems that way anyway!