“With the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select…”
Those are the words we’ve been waiting for since December 28th, 2014. As the bell tolled for the perfect implosion against the division rival New Orleans Saints, the Buccaneers finalized a horrendous 2-14 season with another loss. When those last seconds ticked off the clock, another clock started. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sucked their way into position and were officially on the clock with the number one pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. That’s when the real argument began. What’s most interest about that argument is how many sides there were and how that changed as time went on. Since the beginning, there’s only been three options.
A. Jameis Winston, Quarterback, Florida State University
B. Marcus Mariota, Quarterback, University of Oregon
C. Trade away the #1 Overall Pick
At first, there seemed to be a pretty solid contingency in each camp. As time passed, those numbers started to shift dramatically. The balance moved from side to side, and now it seems to be as lopsided as can be. Option C quickly evaporated as the massive majority of Buccaneers fans seemed set that the selection absolutely had to be a quarterback. There was no shortage of tweets and comments that implied, one way or another, “quarterback or we riot.” Bucs fans are many things, but shy is certainly not one of them.
With good reasoning, plenty of fans have made their voices heard. As the argument began to shift back and forth from Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston, everyone kept their pulse on the massive amount of rumors and “news” coming out about the team’s opinion of either man. The offseason is characterized by hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of trillions of mock drafts, and tonight we finally got to end that. As the draft itself drew nearer, the consensus of opinion got more and more solid.
While there were still some in the camps of either Mariota, or even still in the camp of trading down, it became more about how we, as fans, should be okay with picking Jameis Winston. All of the perceived off field issues seemed to evaporate into thin air as they were properly vetted and investigated. With all of that media-produced negativity gone, the only thing left was a young, charismatic quarterback which much of the fanbase was ready to turn the team around. So, with all the suspense coming to a head, it was time. Who would the Bucs select?
“With the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select…Jameis Winston, Quarterback, Florida State University.”
There it is. The pick is in. Jameis Winston has become the literal chosen one. Being picked number one overall means you’ve received a true stamp of faith from your team, and clearly the Lovie-Licht Connection has faith in Jameis Winston. Only time will tell how the season and future seasons pan out, but it’s now official. The pick that no one every single person on the face of the planet expected has been made. Now we’ll get to shift to some good old fashioned speculation. Now, as the draft continues and comes to a close, it’ll be about how the pieces fit in with the Buccaneers rather than playing a guessing game at what the pieces will even be. There’s a long time between now and when the season begins, but we know exactly who to expect all the talk to be about. Welcome to Tampa Bay, Jameis. Make us famous, but for the right reasons.
