Twelve months ago, ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski said he wouldn't take Johnny Manziel "in the first three rounds." The Browns ended up drafting Manziel 22nd overall.
On Wednesday, Jaws weighed in on this year's controversial quarterback, Jameis Winston, who is the prime candidate to go the Buccaneers with the first-overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Like Manziel, Jaworski is unimpressed with Winston.
“I’ve studied a lot of him, I think Jameis Winston has a big upside in the NFL, but there are some real flaws to his game,” Jaworski told ESPN's Mike & Mike (via PFT). “Quite honestly, I would not take him at that No. 1 pick.”
And this has nothing to do with Winston's character concerns; while in school, the former Florida State star was investigated for sexual assault (though never charged), caught shoplifting crab legs and suspended for one game after yelling an obscenity in the student union.
“I’m not talking about the off-the-field stuff. I have no comment on that because I’m not privy to that kind of information. But there are certainly mechanical flaws in his game that are troubling to me,” Jaws said.
In February 2014, Jaworski called Manziel "a random quarterback that likes to get out of the pocket and make plays with his legs.” He added: “In the NFL, he won't last three games playing that style. He'll get hurt. He took a lot of vicious hits at A&M in two years, and those hits that have that cumulative effect will knock him out of games in the NFL.”
And that's pretty much how Manziel's rookie season played out.
Meanwhile, the Bucs reportedly don't share Jaworski's on-field evaluation of Winston. They seem enamored with the quarterback though they're also apprehensive about whether Winston has learned from his mistakes.
"I'd be lying if I said I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the off-field stuff," Bucs general manager Jason Licht told TheMMQB.com's Peter King at the combine last month. "It's always in the back of your mind. We're people too. We have wives and daughters and bosses to answer to. And at the end of the day we will do the kind of due diligence the likes of which I don't believe the Bucs will have ever done. This decision is going to affect so many people and their families. We've got to get it right."
For what it's worth, Jimbo Fisher, Winston's college coach, said this about the quarterback: "Jameis, in football intellect, intelligence level, is as smart as anybody I've ever been around."
