NFL

2015 NFL Draft: Evaluating Jameis Winston’s Stock After Week 14

Jameis Winston NFL Draft

Melina Vastola – USATODAY Sports

With the college football regular season all but over, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston may only have two or three games left in his career before he moves on to the NFL. Assuming Winston declares for the draft after the season, much of his draft stock will be decided by the combine and interviews with prospective teams.

But even before all of that, teams should have a good idea of what Winston is all about based on the past two years with both his performance on the field and his behavior off it.

The former makes him one of the top quarterback prospects since Andrew Luck. He has yet to lose a game as a college quarterback, and while he’s been surrounded by plenty of talent at Florida State to help him, winning all 25 games that he’s played in college is awfully impressive. At the end of the day, NFL teams care about winning, and Winston has proven himself to be a winner on the field.

Even when he’s struggled early in games, he has always found a way to make big, game-winning plays in the second half with his back against the wall, an asset that NFL teams will value.

In terms of his physical skills, he is second to none compared to any other quarterback eligible for the 2015 NFL Draft. Over the past two years, he has shown great accuracy as a passer, completing 66 percent of his passes, as well as the arm strength to be an NFL quarterback. Even with 23 interceptions in 25 career games, Winston makes good decisions as a passer a majority of the time, especially in crunch time.

Winston also possesses the size and strength that makes him difficult to bring down, as well as enough mobility to get outside the pocket when he needs to without having the athleticism that makes him want to flee the pocket whenever possible.

Of course, NFL draft evaluations are about more than physical skills and college accomplishments; pro teams dig deep into the character of a player, especially at the quarterback position. When it comes to character, Winston is one of the most controversial and polarizing players in recent memory.

He’s spent the past year with sexual assault allegations hanging over his head, stole crab legs from a local grocery store, and was suspended for a game for making inappropriate comments in the Florida State student union. His character and maturity are major question marks that NFL teams will scrutinize and closely consider when evaluating him.

If it weren’t for the off-field issues, there’s no doubt Winston would be the top overall pick in next year’s draft. But maturity away from the field matters, especially at the quarterback position, and that will make teams weary of taking him no matter what he does on the field.

That said, his talent is far too intoxicating for him to drop too far because of character issues. With so much desperation in the NFL to find a franchise quarterback and so many quarterback-needy teams drafting early, Winston is surely a top-five pick at this point.

Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com.  Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.

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