Jameis Winston's rookie campaign keeps getting more difficult
By David Kenyon
Quarterbacks regularly struggle during their rookie season, but external forces keep making Jameis Winston’s initial NFL campaign more difficult.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins—who racked up five catches, 110 yards and two touchdowns in the 2015 opener—is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Schefter’s report comes on the heels of Tampa Bay’s surprising 26-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints. Winston completed 14 of his 21 attempts, tossing one touchdown and running for another.
But now, Winston has to continue adjusting to the NFL game while missing a top receiving option and waiting for his No. 1 target to be completely healthy.
Mike Evans paced the Bucs with 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, but he was sidelined for Week 1 due to a hamstring injury and only played a limited role on Sunday. Unfortunately, hamstring soreness is the type of injury that can linger throughout the season, and it quite reasonably could flare up later on.
In today’s NFL world where patience is not necessarily a virtue, Winston might encounter struggles that are directly the result of receivers simply not getting open yet be blasted for poor performance.
Winston wasn’t going to be a dominant quarterback in 2015 even if the Bucs were at full strength, but the injuries to Seferian-Jenkins at Evans certainly don’t make it easier on the rookie.
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