ESPN college football and NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay was available for a media conference call on Tuesday, Jan. 6, to discuss the College Football Playoff National Championship (Monday, Jan. 12, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN) and the 2015 NFL Draft. Excerpts about Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, who declared for the NFL Draft yesterday, are below. Full audio replay.
Q: Where do you see the Jets going at No. 6 if Winston is available?
McShay: “If Winston is there, it’s a decision that every team that needs a quarterback at the top of the draft is gonna have to make… If he’s still there, it’s a really hard decision. And really, to break it down, if you’re making the decision based off of what you watch on tape and the football aspect of it, Jameis Winston is the better prospect. He’s the best quarterback prospect in this draft class. He’s better from inside the pocket than Marcus Mariota, which is where really the foundation of an evaluation should be – can you win from inside the pocket? We’ve gone through how many years of people getting all excited about these mobile quarterbacks that can run around and do all this stuff and if you can’t win from inside the pocket with your anticipation, with your pre-snap reads, your post-snap reads, throwing to spots and having excellent ball placement – we just haven’t seen anyone overcome that. You look at all the top quarterbacks in the league year in and year out and yeah, you may have one year. Colin Kaepernick had one year where he was really good, but then defenses have an offseason to look at his tendencies and to figure it out. Jameis Winston to me is the better prospect. Marcus Mariota is still a very good prospect, but needs developing. And, with both of them, I think they both have a chance to be great, but they both come with red flags and Winston’s red flags are off the field. So, there’s a chance he gets to 6, there’s a chance he’s the second quarterback taken even though he is the best quarterback prospect and there’s also a chance that both those guys are off the board. Again, very difficult decisions for teams like Tampa Bay, needing a quarterback at 1, Tennessee at No. 2 and then Washington’s got a decision to make at No. 5 and then you get down to the Jets at 6.”
Q: Would you talk about Jameis Winston’s pros and cons as far as on the field talent balanced with the off-field concerns? [Part I of a two-part question regarding the Titans’ pick at No. 2.]
McShay: “With Winston, literally there’s very few cons when you talk about him between the lines and even in game preparation in the facility, all those things because he’s a very smart individual. He picks up football concepts very quickly, he knows how to go through progression reads, he’s comfortable in the pocket, can manipulate the pocket, can – if he feels pressure coming, he’s not the quickest quarterback, but he’s mobile enough and strong enough too, to extend plays with his feet. He anticipates throws as well as any quarterback in the last couple of drafts in terms of being inside the pocket. And when I say anticipate really it’s – the receiver’s not open and before his break or before he’s flashed into a soft spot in zone coverage being able to throw to that spot. There are a lot of guys that can go down to a field or go stand on a beach and throw 100 times and hit someone in the chest 100 times. One of the hardest parts about playing that position is when pressure’s coming and/or when the receiver’s not where he is going to be when the ball gets to that spot. Can you make accurate throws? And I consistently on tape see Jameis Winston with pressure in his face and/or when having to anticipate a throw and lead a receiver to a spot, make it accurately. Now, did he force some balls this year that he probably shouldn’t have? Yes. I think it was a byproduct of an offensive line that struggled for a good portion of the season and there’s no Kelvin Benjamin, there was no big target for him and I think he probably was pressed too much. But, Matt Ryan, I think he threw 19 interceptions his senior year and for a lot of the same reasons. The cons with Jameis Winston really, it’s all about what are you getting in terms of maturity and with the individual off the field? Can he stay out of trouble and can he handle himself in manner that you feel comfortable winding up giving him whether it’s $25-30 million dollars and tagging him from day one as the face of your franchise? And that’s, it’s hard, man. I don’t know the answer right now and until we get – you just keep digging and digging and digging. And the hard part for what I do is that I have to rely in this stuff a lot on friends in the league. Because getting the results from the psychological test and the background checks and all the little things that they go through, there’s going to be a lot of information I’ll wind up getting and I’ve got to kind of balance all of that. So, I can’t sit here right now and say I would definitely take him at 2 or I definitely wouldn’t take him at 2 because I need to get that information, but I can tell you if off the field didn’t matter and his personality – there’s no questions about it, I would say take Jameis Winston No. 1 and don’t look back if I were the Tampa Bay Bucs and obviously if you’re sitting at 2, I’d say the same thing as well.”
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