Now that Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota have both declared for the NFL Draft the question now becomes which one gets selected first. Right now I have seen draft boards that have Winston at the top and I have seen boards that have Mariota at the top. Which one goes first?
Tampa Bay is selecting first and does need a quarterback, needs some excitement, and just something positive for the team. My first inclination would be that Tampa Bay would take Winston before Mariota because he played at Florida State and the fans would prefer a guy that was in state already. He's a big personality type of guy and would certainly bring excitement to this franchise. However, when you look at the WHOLE player and what may or may not scare a GM away from a player, everybody that knows of Jameis Winston knows that he comes with some baggage. A general manager of any team will/may be uncertain to attach his trailer to a young athlete that has had a sexual assault case brought against him, stealing crab legs, and yelling obscenities in a lunch room at school. Maturity is certainly called into question with Winston. Maybe he is past it and has learned, but only time will tell with that. The part of Jameis Winston that has matured so far is his on field game. He has the tangible things a general manager likes, such as size, strength, arm strength. He also is a leader and has been in high pressure situations such as the 2014 National Championship, ACC Title game, The Rose Bowl, and many other tight regular season games. Remember Notre Dame anybody? I'm sure the Irish fans do.
Some how he found a way to get the job done in tight situations and kept the Seminoles in the College Football Playoff picture. Many people felt they were getting lucky, like the Clemson game, when Winston was out of the line up. If it wasn't for a poorly designed pass play, err, pick play Florida State would have had a loss and probably does not get into the football playoff. Winston's ability to lead his team down the field against Auburn last year to throw the winning pass said so much about his ability to stay calm in that situation and deliver a win for his team. If he wasn't by then, he certainly was on the radar of most NFL teams after that game.
The NFL will do their due diligence with all of Winston's off the field problems and come to a conclusion about how big of a risk he will be to them. What he will need is a team that has some solid veterans that can show Jameis how to conduct himself as a pro and keep him on the straight and narrow.
Next up is the Heisman Trophy winner in Marcus Mariota. He is just about the antithesis of Jameis Winston. He doesn't have the off field baggage like Winston has. What Jameis doesn't have off the field Mariota has in spades. He relies on his island roots to maintain a low profile and humble attitude towards his teammates and his game. It's never about him, it's about the whole team and what he can do to make his team better. GM's will eat that kind of attitude up and want him as the face of their franchise.
Where Marcus will kill it in the whole draft process is the interview. He speaks very soft and carries himself in a way that makes parents look at him as someone that their children can look up to. In the image conscious NFL, that'll go along way for Mariota.
Marcus Mariota will have to make sure during his pro day that he shows the scouts that he can make all the necessary drops in terms of coming from under center. Mariota did not take hardly any snaps under center unless it was at the end of the game where the Ducks were just running out the clock. He has the size, decent arm (not as good as Winston's), great speed, intelligence, and all the off field positives that you would want. His footwork from under center will have to improve between now and his pro day, then from his pro day to when he gets to training camp. The question I have is his footwork from under center and if he is a system quarterback that can make his progressions. I saw games where he showed that he could go through his progressions, but the NFL is a different animal and he is going to have to intake a ton of information in his pre read snaps in the pro's. That'll be a big aspect of his game that show if he can develop into the type of quarterback that a team like Tampa Bay may want.
In the end, it's a toss up in terms of talent. I really think that their on field play is a wash to me. Where they separate each other is with their off field behavior and if you are going to invest millions of dollars in a quarterback you can't be wondering if they are going to appear on the 5pm newscast. That's not a risk GM's should have to take, so I would take Marcus Mariota and leave Jameis Winston to another team. The off-season is here, so lets sit back and see how it unfolds.
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