“It Is One Of My Dreams”
August 1st, 2019
Closer?
America’s Quarterback is still smitten with America’s Pastime.
Once upon a time Pro Bowl quarterback Jameis Winston was a damn fine closer for Florida State in a damn fine baseball conference.
In his sophomore and final baseball season in 2014 (coming right after he won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship in football), Jameis had a 1.00 ERA in 33.1 innings and finished with an excellent strikeout-to-walk ratio of 31/7.
A lot of guys with those stats as a college sophomore later get paid to pitch, especially closers. But as we all know, Jameis chose football and here he is, leading the Bucs.
Now we know the Bucs have a no-baseball clause in his contract, which expires after the current football season. After that, who knows?
In a standup (it wasn’t a sitdown because they stood up) with hot dog eating contest-protesting, mock draft-scowling, L.L. Bean-wearing, Second Amendment abolitionist, Mike Florio-arguing, parrot-insensitive, chewing-with-his-mouth-open, soup-gulping, California train-romancing, anti-football proliferation, outhouse-admiring, airline-napping, steerage-flying, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal picture-taking, video game-playing, Taylor Swift-listening, 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, craft beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training social activist Peter King of NBC Sports, Jameis confessed he still has the baseball bug and it would be a “dream” if he could take the mound in an MLB game to close out a win.
“It is one of my dreams,” Jameis said. “It is something I would definitely look forward to.”
So after this season, what gives?
If Jameis has a fine season it would be crazy of the Bucs to walk away from Jameis (though the 2020 draft is expected to be loaded with top-shelf quarterbacks), unless they also want to wash their hands of Bucco Bruce Arians (he’s stated he’s not here for a rebuild and if a team drafts a quarterback in the first round, that friends is a rebuild)
Or could this be that if the Bucs wave goodbye to Jameis, he might just say the hell with it and reboot his baseball career? The way solid closers get paid, Jameis could become a filthy rich man.
The cynic in Joe thinks this is a researched ploy by Jameis that if the Bucs, or any other NFL teams wants him, they will have to pay him (more) to stay away from a baseball diamond.
August 1st, 2019 at 5:18 am
Go get’em Jaboo; Its now or never…
August 1st, 2019 at 5:20 am
Might have missed his calling!
His baseball stats might have been meaningful.
He should try out, what real harm could there be?
August 1st, 2019 at 6:11 am
The Rays could use him… they need a closer
August 1st, 2019 at 6:18 am
PLEASE go play baseball !!!! (I don’t watch that sport)
August 1st, 2019 at 6:33 am
I’ll be happy if he chooses baseball. I don’t hate him but he’s not the type of QB I want and his game belongs to a different era. Even if he’s the best in team history- that doesn’t say much. Anyway he’s too expensive to keep for what he’s done on his rookie contract. He doesn’t play or act like a vet so we better get another one for rookie money and use the cap to bolster o-line and other staff.
August 1st, 2019 at 6:51 am
I’m quite sure if he was asked…..winning a SB is also one of his dreams….how about doing that first?
August 1st, 2019 at 7:03 am
The way the Defense is coming ahead, WinSTUNNED is going to be the only player to prevent a turnaround….
August 1st, 2019 at 7:18 am
Michael Thomas – 5 years 100 million with 61 guaranteed
Great receiver – and he got huge bucks
How can saints afford that ? They’ve had cap issues for years.
Or Does that mean they may need to clear some room?
Cut some other decent contracts / quality players ? We could use a right guard.
August 1st, 2019 at 7:19 am
they should have been seated in chairs..the awkwardness of being in each others personal space was so obvi…they should have just hugged it out
August 1st, 2019 at 7:24 am
Whoops
Michael Thomas- look out how they did deal. Only 6 mil cap his this year on this record breaking receiver deal at 20 per.
Huge 💵 moving forward
Does that mean brees is giving only 1 more year. ?
Let’s hope so.
August 1st, 2019 at 7:35 am
I wonder what Winston’s out pitch was? Fast ball High and outside the strike zone, a sinker in the dirt, maybe a curve ball that misses the plate and the batter swings and misses. We see his fast ball in the NFL but it is not always over the plate(or in the numbers) not always around were the Receivers can catch it easily and gain yards after the catch. I would like to see Winston pitch and compare his baseball accuracy and his NFL QB accuracy. And before everyone says he is accurate with the football. How many times have we witnessed a pass two or three feet out of Mike Evan’s reach? You know that 6’5″ Pro Bowl WR we have. Or passes behind the WR or in the dirt at their feet. Yes not every pass in the NFL is perfect I get it. But can we expect YAC from this QB with our WR’s, I do not see it as often as I would like. If Winston wants a back up career as a baseball closer. I say good luck with that.
Show me! Don’t tell me Show Me!
Go Bucs!
August 1st, 2019 at 7:36 am
I worried about this when he was drafted and his rookie year.
A few years later and I’m pretty meh about it. Stay. Go. Whatever. He’s not bad enough to want him gone and hes not good enough to beg to stay.
Maybe its best for Jameis to throw to a stationary target anyways.
August 1st, 2019 at 7:39 am
Hope Jameis leads bucs to playoffs soon but also you only get one shot at life, if he is good enough, he should give baseball a shot. The only diff between kyler murray & russel wilson compared to jameis is they are position players & jameis on the mound where bigger chance as a pitcher he blows out his wing, so I could see if he remains a buc always having that clause.
August 1st, 2019 at 7:48 am
Perspective. The Rangers have his rights and he was drafted the 15th round of the 2012 draft. 15th rounders are not guaranteed an MLB spot. He better stick to football.
August 1st, 2019 at 7:51 am
Well if the qb thing doesn’t work out he can play a sport no one cares about
August 1st, 2019 at 7:58 am
Sorry man…if you can’t throw a fastball or a curve with more accuracy than you have shown on long passes, you wouldn’t get out of AA ball.
August 1st, 2019 at 7:59 am
He’s just being JAMEIS… he’s 100% focused on football
August 1st, 2019 at 8:06 am
If you think you’re lonely now! Wait until tonight…I’ll be lone gone!!! This is year 5 and FAMOUS will come alive!!…It’ll be all about the team getting better around FAMOUS on both sides of the ball!! GO BUCS GO SUHY GO TEAM!!
August 1st, 2019 at 8:08 am
Yall hate some Jameis
August 1st, 2019 at 8:17 am
That would be AWESOME. Although, would he get called for a balk if he dropped (fumbled) the baseball at the start of his windup???
August 1st, 2019 at 8:22 am
Hey Joe: JW is not smart enough to develop a ploy.
August 1st, 2019 at 8:25 am
Hi isrBuc:
You make a smart point but, geez, how much more does this team need to spend on offensive line? Already are paying three guys $30 million a year.
August 1st, 2019 at 8:38 am
If Jameis plays baseball Tmax will troll whatever team he plays with.
August 1st, 2019 at 8:51 am
The dummies in the front office should have drafted in the trenches 4-5 years ago and build a winner from inside out; bucs braintrust does the opposite which gets you to 5-11
August 1st, 2019 at 8:54 am
Sounds like he’s got some doubt creeping in there that he’s going to retire 15 years from now as a QB.
I got the same concerns.
August 1st, 2019 at 9:35 am
Wow Joe your jealousy of Peter King doesn’t show at all. Hater mode in full effect
August 1st, 2019 at 9:45 am
imo, if he doesnt succeed with the bucs, he’s a career back up in the NFL….
he’d be tebow 2.0 but without the playoff win….
GO BUCS!!!!!
August 1st, 2019 at 9:58 am
@joe
I’m no JL homer either. He should have been gone imo. Wrote here many times- we keep fooling ourselves every summer. I say ‘we’ because nationally no one shares the enthusiasm (and most think winston’s a bust or don’t want on their team). I was for cleaning house for picks 2-3 years ago. Shortcuts doesn’t work and now we are in cap hell with failing drafts to hunt us. We cannot escape reality. The NFL is built in such way that losing teams can benefit and the way to do it is by paying less and accumulate high valued picks. The bucs are run by P.R department and a GM who needs to win now to save his job so doing what’s good for the team is not an option.
August 1st, 2019 at 10:08 am
@joe
and you know what- in all your podcasts and articles you never even brought this option up. You see how the browns look now and how they are projected. How did they do that? by clinging on their QBs being scared that if they let go the wont find another one?
Look how the Giants let someone like OBJ go. Can you see the bucs doing something like that? GMC should have been gone years ago for 1st rd pick. We cut him for nothing. Not because he was or wasn’t good. We were not winning with him and couldn’t build anything around him while our “next shift” of rookie contracts started to expire.
JW should have brought us much further to deserve its next contract. we are not in the nineties anymore. QB step up early and perform. A second contract suffocates the team in terms of cap. the team needs to be in a much better state roster-wise and culture-wise for paying him to make sense. You should have a lot of young talent spread around on rookie contracts. rookies that step right into a winning culture and perform. we don’t have that. we need to reset as painful as it sounds.
August 1st, 2019 at 10:10 am
Not exactly sure the Browns are a franchise to strive to be. The Browns have a longer playoff drought than the Bucs.
August 1st, 2019 at 10:47 am
So his desire for baseball could actually help him land an even bigger future contract even though his performance so far has been less than stellar for the #1 pick in the 2015 NFL draft?
Only in America folks.
August 1st, 2019 at 11:13 am
There really hasn’t been a two sport player in the nfl since neon Deion … not sure how this would work for a quarterback … mind should be 100 % on football as a QB
August 1st, 2019 at 12:45 pm
Funniest thread on JBF in months; thank you to you all!
tickrdr
August 1st, 2019 at 12:46 pm
isrBuc:
Excellent posts on this thread!
tickrdr
August 1st, 2019 at 12:56 pm
Reposted from last year after the first two games: Please IGNORE!
———————————————————————————
tickrdr Says:
September 20th, 2018 at 5:59 pm
I have posted on multiple occasions that Jameis is a better “pitcher” than a “quarterback”. What I mean by that is that Jameis is great throwing “fastballs” to a spot, so that curls and comebacks are great routes for him, however he seems relatively poor at throwing to a moving target, especially one moving directly away from him, such as fly or go routes, or a wheel route by an RB. To me, the ability to hit a stationary target is best for a pitcher, however to hit a moving target is best served by a quarterback. Again these are relative differences, because even a blind squirrel finds a nut, so please don’t tell me about the pass to Godwin last year. I believe that Fitz is much better at hitting MOVING targets than Jameis.
For example:
ME13 2017: 136 targets 71 receptions for 52.2% catch percentage and 5 TDs.
2018: 19 targets 17 receptions for 89.5% catch percentage and 2 TDs.
1001 yards in 2017, but already 230 yards in 2018, with improved YAC.
DJax 2017: 90 targets 50 receptions for 55.6% catch percentage and 3 TDs.
2018: 9 targets 9 receptions for 100% catch percentage and 2 TDs.
668 yards in 2017, but already 275 yards in 2018, with improved YAC.
BTW, 2 of his 3 TDs in 2017 were………………… Fitz to DJax. Go figure?
Exit questions: If the difference this year is mostly due to the offensive line play, and not to the QB play, why have the RBs only gained 76 and then 43 yards in the two games thus far? If Fitzpatrick has had all day to throw, why did he rush 12 times in the first game, knowing that his backup in that game has never taken a regular season snap?
tickrdr
August 1st, 2019 at 4:12 pm
See ya Winston go give some else a ulcer! Watching your inconsistent arm.!
August 1st, 2019 at 5:05 pm
Any of these haters watch the video? How he said how blessed he is to be “one of 32”? How much more important his position is in the NFL, over being drafted in the MLB.
August 1st, 2019 at 5:08 pm
Wish he would have went to baseball….
August 2nd, 2019 at 2:07 am
Jameis, has penchant for staring down receivers on slants.
“Right Down the Pike”“
Similar to the way a pitcher does – when a hitter steps into the batter’s box. But when the bases are loaded – sometimes you need take the check down at 1st or 2nd or 3rd base; to make the play.
August 2nd, 2019 at 10:48 am
If Jameis puts up the EXACT SAME advanced stats in 2019 as he did in 2020, the ONLY thing he will need to do to get a contract extension is end the 2019 season HEALTHY, that’s it.
The only people that don’t understand this are those who think “stats are for losers” and that GMs draft and sign players based on the “team record” they had from the previous season, rather than how much talent they have,
If Jameis finishes 2019:
Top 5 in Raw QBR
Top 8 in Total QBR
#1 in the entire NFL under pressure
#1 in the entire NFL on 3rd downs (#1 in conversion percentage and #4 in passer rating)
and HEALTHY
He will get a contract extension … even if the team goes 0-16.
That would cause the Jameis-haters to lose their minds, but that’s just the way it is. No GM in their right mind is going to draft a midget nowhere near as talented as Jameis who just happens to have a great college W.L record because he plays on a college all-star team (i.e. Tua), or some other guy who is nowhere near as talented as Jameis (Herbert or Fromm) just because Jameis’ “t-e-a-m” crapped the bed and went 0-16 despite his excellent “individual” play.
“Team fans” care about team wins … that makes many of them clueless when it comes to evaluating “individual” talent and performance.