Jameis Winston vs Marcus Mariota: Who Should the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Draft No. 1 Overall?
For the fifth time in their franchise history, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the No. 1 overall selection in the NFL Draft. Only the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts have had more No.1 selections than the Buccaneers.
There's pretty much a 99 percent chance that the Buccaneers will draft a quarterback with the No. 1 pick, but who should they choose? Should they pick Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota?
Most NFL draft experts are predicting that the Buccaneers will select Winston, who played two years at Florida State. With the Seminoles, Winston threw 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions with a 163.3 passer rating. His shining moment came in the 2013 season when he led the Seminoles to a championship victory over Auburn, 34-31. Winston led a game-winning drive and threw for two touchdowns and zero interceptions in that game with a clutch performance.
Winston is viewed by many as "more NFL ready" because he can make throws from within the pocket, and he doesn't depend on the spread option offense.
But, Winston isn't without his critics. Drafting Winston is a big risk because of his off the field issues. He may not have been convicted for the rape allegations, but there's still a laundry list of problems. Those issues range from stealing $32.72 worth of crab legs, standing on a table and shouting sexual vulgarities at a female student, stealing from a Burger King, and even shooting up an apartment complex with a BB gun.
Phew, that's a long list.
The NFL is cracking down on of the field incidents more than ever. See Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice.
Then, there's Marcus Mariota. Mariota was very productive at Oregon. In his three years he threw for 105 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions and had a 171.8 passer rating. Mariota also scored 29 rushing touchdowns at Oregon, including 15 in his final year. There's no doubt, Mariota did a great job fitting the spread option offense perfectly, and he also beat Winston in 2015 Rose Bowl heavily outplaying him.
That was the only loss of Winston's college career.
But, similar to Winston, Mariota has his doubters as well. Many point out the fact that Mariota relied so much on the system and the college style offense like a Tim Tebow type quarterback rather than a prototypical Dan Marino drop back passer. Can Mariota be a productive in the pocket quarterback in the NFL? Only time will tell.
The Buccaneers can also explore the idea of trading the No. 1 pick. The Philadelphia Eagles, led by head coach Chip Kelly, have a lot of interest in Mariota because of the Oregon ties. If the Buccaneers were to trade the top pick, they would have to get a lot of value back in return.
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