National Football League

Jameis Winston appears locked in for rookie season

Published Jun. 22, 2015 9:19 p.m. ET

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Alex Marvez

TAMPA -- Jameis Winston knew that the summertime break for Tampa Bay's players had officially started two hours earlier.

He didn't care.

Winston's teammates were streaming out of One Buccaneers Place last Thursday but he wasn't following. Doing so would disrupt the routine Winston has developed with his quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian and an equipment intern named Tyler "Thunder" Martin.

Like he did throughout the offseason since reporting to the Bucs in early May, Winston took the field for extra work. In the absence of virtual-reality technology -- which, as first reported by FOX Sports, is coming to the Buccaneers -- Winston tries to visualize defenses the old-fashion way.

He calls a play and Bajarkian turns up the heat that matches the sweltering temperature outdoors. Bajarkian barks out the coverage Winston would be facing, which forces the quarterback to make lightning-quick decisions about his progressions and where he should throw the football. When Winston does put the football in the air, Martin is the target.

As the simulations unfolded, Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter cracked a joke.

"While I'm on vacation, they're all doing reps," he said.

For the past seven weeks, Koetter and Bucs head coach Lovie Smith have watched this scene unfold time after time from the second floor of their spacious offices at team headquarters. It's not the only time they see Winston outside of the normal hours of the offseason program either. Winston arrives at 6 a.m. for weight-lifting and conditioning. He doesn't leave until 12 hours later.

Even then, his day isn't done.

"At home I study about two full hours," Winston told FOX Sports before his session with Bajakian. "I try to get some rest but sometimes I've got to look over my script."

It's far too early to tell whether this commitment will ultimately translate into Winston becoming the franchise quarterback envisioned when Tampa Bay made him the top overall pick of this year's draft. But this much has become clear already: If he fails to reach those heights, it won't be work ethic or the steps Bucs brass has put in place to help Winston succeed that are to blame.

Quite the combo

The Winston-Koetter-Bajakian pairing is no accident.

A significant reason Smith's team finished an NFL-worst 2-14 in his first year with the Bucs was the absence of offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford, who left the team right before the start of the regular season because of a heart ailment. Tampa Bay already was going to experience growing pains trying to learn a new system with an offseason infusion of rookies and free agents.

Tedford's absence and ultimate departure made the situation far worse.

The Bucs gave quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo, a 34-year-old former college assistant under Tedford with no previous NFL experience, the play-calling responsibilities. Injuries and a lack of steady defensive support further compounded the problem. Tampa Bay finished the season with a bottom-five NFL ranking in average per-game yards (292) and scoring (17.3).

As bad as this was, there was a blessing amid the mess: Smith had extra time to ponder his next step at offensive coordinator and which quarterback Tampa Bay would select early in the draft. Smith was then wise enough to pull his starters in the fourth quarter while ahead in what ended as a Week 17 loss to New Orleans. That clinched the No. 1 overall pick for the Bucs.

While head coach in Chicago, Smith had strong interest in hiring Koetter as his offensive coordinator but it didn't work out. The opportunity presented itself this time with Koetter available when Atlanta fired head coach Mike Smith following the season.

It also didn't hurt when Atlanta scored 56 points in the first three quarters of last season's Week 3 rout of the Bucs.

"I knew he had a good offensive mind but it's not just that you look for," Smith told FOX Sports. "You want a guy who can rally the troops and handle the group where they all feel like they're part of it. And then, he's a good guy, a genuinely good man. And I knew how being a good man, being a QB tutor all that, that's the ideal position for a young quarterback coming in. It was an easy decision in the end."

The same could be said for choosing Winston although not before Tampa Bay vetted the Florida State star more than any draft prospect in franchise history. The Bucs interviewed roughly 75 people connected to Winston in trying to determine whether multiple off-field incidents that ranged from being relatively minor in nature (a supermarket shoplifting incident and tasteless on-campus prank that resulted in a one-game suspension) to a rape allegation for which he was ultimately cleared weren't a harbinger of trouble to follow in the NFL.

The Bucs are convinced it isn't.

Asked about his initial impressions of working with Winston, Smith said, "I can't say anything has surprised me. You know how much time we spent with Jameis and the research we've done, people we've talked to? Early on when you talk to him, you're going to see exactly what he says is what he's going to do. He's not a BSer. This is what we thought he would be.

"I think the best thing we could say is that we haven't been surprised about anything."

Growth and development

Koetter had heavy input into the Winston scouting process. Bucs general manager Jason Licht said he allowed Koetter to "let Dirk do his own evaluation, his own interviews with the (Florida State) coaching staff and Jimbo (Fisher)."

"He came back and said, 'On a scale of 1-10 with a rookie coming in and interviewing rookies, I don't know what a 10 is but he might have been one in terms of his intelligence,'" Licht told FOX Sports. "He came away very impressed.

"Of course, we want our coordinator who is driving the ship to be on board with it. He was."

Having played in a pro-style offense at FSU was one of the major factors that helped separate Winston from fellow quarterback Marcus Mariota, who operated a spread scheme at the University of Oregon.

"We're not an option attack," Smith said of Tampa Bay's offensive philosophy. "We're not running the wishbone or anything. It is a pro-style offense. We want our quarterback to be able to make the throws. We think Jameis can do those things."

Koetter became convinced Winston would be able to quickly handle learning his system after happening upon a copy of Florida State's spring playbook during a pre-draft visit.

"I was looking at it and saying, 'Holy cow!' They put in more stuff a day than we do," Koetter said.

Koetter knows all too well what can happen when a young quarterback is given too much too soon and forced to play prematurely. This happened with Blaine Gabbert in 2011 when Koetter was Jacksonville's offensive coordinator.

By age 22, Gabbert had become the youngest quarterback in league history to start 14 games in a season. His youth showed. He was sacked 40 times and committed 14 fumbles. The Jaguars were 4-10 under Gabbert and the coaching staff was dismissed. Gabbert ultimately failed to become the franchise quarterback Jacksonville had hoped and is now a backup in San Francisco.

"The original plan was to sit (Gabbert) for a year," Koetter said. "That plan got blown out of the water ... Blaine had to play before he was ready.

"I don't know if there's any blueprint for exactly how you (develop a rookie quarterback). I think a lot of it is based on the guy and how much he could handle and what his college system was like."

Koetter feels Winston can handle learning at the same pace as third-year quarterback Mike Glennon, who split snaps with the starters during offseason work.

"We said we could probably slow down a little bit and give Jameis more immediate success right now in practice," Koetter said. "But look, we're not game-planning for our defense or the Tennessee Titans (in Week 1). We're learning a system.

"We're going to have a huge amount of volume in right now, way more than we would ever have in one game. We have enough stuff right now for 10 game plans. We're putting in stuff we're going to use over the course of a whole season. It will all get shrunk down and Jameis will have input on that. We purposely made a decision that we're going to throw a huge book at him and see what sticks."

To help accelerate the learning process, Koetter had the entire offense spend the offseason studying video of the 2014 Bucs as well as the work he did with the Atlanta Falcons. Winston smiled while saying he's watched "a lot" of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.

"He's great," Winston said. "Coach Koetter made him better. It's how he goes through his progressions. He makes a lot of explosive plays. But at the end of the day, he takes that (easy) completion and keeps the chain moving."

That's one of the lessons Koetter hoped Winston would learn when dissecting Ryan.

"It's the reads, the timing, the footwork, the eye progression that you have to have to play in the type of offense we're running," said Koetter, who helped tutor Ryan to the best three seasons of his NFL career (2012 to 2014). "A lot of young guys don't know how to look off (defenders), don't know how to put their eyes."

Two other areas that Koetter says Winston must master:

Verbiage: "He's learning a new language. Whether you're coming from Florida State or wherever, XYZ now equals ABC. And then being able to take what you know and communicate it to the other guys.

"We've practiced a lot of no huddle ... Not only do you have to learn the words, the terminology, you've got to learn signals for everything and code words. You've really got three things for every play -- how do we call it in the huddle, how do we code-word it if we're in no-huddle and how do we signal it when you're on the road and you can't hear."

Drop-backs: "The old days of just having three-, five- or seven-step (are over). We have a lot of different kinds of drops based upon whether you're under center, in the shotgun, if play-action is involved or if we're moving the pocket. Each play calls for its own set of footwork. Even within that, it might be a certain type of footwork if you're throwing to the left against one coverage and a different set of footwork if you're throwing to the right against another coverage.

"This stuff takes time."

It's also where Bajakian comes in.

Dubbed a "rising star" by Licht, Bajakian cut his teeth as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in the college ranks for more than a decade before being hired away this offseason from the University of Tennessee. He has quickly formed a close bond with Winston while helping to school him on all the elements needed for NFL stardom.

"We work hard every single day," Winston said. "He usually runs our meetings and coach Koetter is the overseer.

"Coach Bajakian, him coming from college kind of helps me out because he knows how to speak to me college-style. That's good."

Winston still acts "college style" during practice, which has endeared himself to his new teammates. So has a modesty and deference toward veterans that belies the "Famous Jameis" nickname bestowed upon him at FSU.

"He's been so fun to be around, you've got to like him," Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans said. "He works hard and he has fun on the practice field. He'll throw a touchdown and celebrate. He makes a good completion and he's going to celebrate."

Licht also has watched Winston quickly rebound in practice after committing a turnover, which was his tendency at FSU. One example came in last Tuesday's minicamp practice after Winston threw a red-zone interception.

"He came back and threw two touchdowns almost back-to-back where he just threaded it right through the middle of the defense to the receiver and made the correct read," Licht said. "He's got a great ability to change the speed of his ball. He throws with touch when he needs to.

"I thought Jameis had a strong arm, but it's even a little stronger that I thought."

Getting up to speed

So what's next?

Smith isn't saying whether Winston or Glennon will be under center with the first-team offense at the start of training camp. As he points out, it doesn't really matter either.

"Everybody knows eventually what's going to happen, but you have time for that," Smith said.

Smith is far more interested in seeing how Winston responds to a live pass rush during the preseason games.

"In the offseason, I can sit back there in the pocket and I know you're not going to hit me and if you do, the coach may cut you," Smith said while punctuating his point by dropping into a quarterbacking stance. "That's different once you get in the preseason games and get hit and (defenders) are around. You can't prepare a guy for that. He has to go through that. That's the next step for Jameis."

Koetter isn't expecting Ryan-like performances right off the bat.

"Jameis is still a rookie. He's going to make mistakes that 21-year-old guys make," Koetter said. "Here's a guy that won a Heisman Trophy and a national championship yet his immaturity does show up sometimes on and off the field. It's been a learning process for me I'm sure just as much as it has been for him."

In the six weeks before reporting to training camp, Winston said he will remain around team headquarters to continue preparing. He plans to hold an unofficial throwing camp with Bucs wide receivers in either Tampa or Tallahassee and later take his family on a week-long vacation.

"I'm trying to play football the best I possibly can," Winston said. "I'm trying to learn this offense the best I possibly can. At the end of the day, we're trying to win. I didn't come here expecting to be given anything."

Koetter admits he's anxious to see how ready Winston is for the challenge.

"In a perfect world as a coach, you really want to feel like you have control over knowing exactly what this guy is going to do," Koetter said. "We don't have that with Jameis right now."

He then chuckled.

"Jameis does some things both sides," Koetter continued. "He does some things like 'Wow!' above and beyond what you would ask him to do every day. And then he does a couple of things every day where you go, 'Jameis, oh my god! Why did you just do that?' There's going to be growing pains.

"It's going to be a fun ride."

And it's only just begun.

Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans was interviewed by Alex Marvez and co-host Bill Polian on SiriusXM NFL Radio

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