Mariota or Winston?

Who do you think had more questions about his ability to succeed in the NFL, Cam Newton in 2011 or Jameis Winston in 2015?

I know Winston's sexual assault charge was far more serious than anything Newton allegedly did, but Winston was cleared, the same way Newton was cleared of being paid to go to Auburn.

Stealing another student's laptop is a lot worse than getting the grocery store hookup, which is hardly uncommon in any college town (doesn't make it right).

I would say that based on what we knew about Newton in April of 2011 and what we know about Jameis today, and their style of play, I think Jameis is as safe a pick as Newton was four years ago.

 

RJ, to me it is more the pattern of behavior. From the BB gun wars that did serious damage to the dorms, to "F--- her right in the p----", to the crab legs, to another (?) BB gun incident when he had a gun pulled on him, to the sexual assault. Much of it is just college shenanigans, but he hasn't proven to be too mature or to learn from his mistakes. Again, the rules don't seem to concern him.

And I haven't exactly covered myself in glory on this thread, but I guess it's the fanboi tendency I have as a former Bucs season-ticket holder. If it were my decision right now, I'd go with Mariota, but I am looking forward to seeing the process play out. At the moment, Winston scares the hell out of me, and that choice would not be well-received by a lot of fans if it took place right now.

 

Not sure it matters which quarterback the Bucs take as long as Lovie Smith continues to ignore his offense. Winston is likely a better fit because he's more ready to play. Mariota needs good coaching; he won't get it from the yahoos Lovie litters his offensive staffs with.

 

The only thing we can say about my draft expertise is it can't be worse than Mark Dominik's.

Anyway, regarding Mariota, I have been wondering what exactly makes him so much different or better than Marques Tuiasosopo. How's that for ethnic typecasting?

Seriously though -- Tuiasosopo was as dominant in college playing the exact same style.

 

Don't have much memory of Tuiasasopo, but I don't recall him being the passer that Mariota is. But I've heard worse comparisons. Was trying to find some numbers and came up with this fun fact:
Mariota Tiumalu Tuiasosopo (1905-1957) was the author of Amerika Samoa, the national anthem of American Samoa.

 

The part that said "seriously though" totally isn't serious, right?
Because Tuiasosopo completed 52% of his passes his senior year. 52! He might as well have been throwing blindfolded.

 

All right, that surprises me. I remember him being better. My bad.

In my defense, my mistake was on a message board and Mark Dominik's was in the first round of the draft.

 

No argument from me on that point . I'll admit I was stunned to see that it was so low, too. Honestly, how's someone who just completed 52% of their passes get drafted in the 2nd round? Amazing world we live in.

 

Eye test

 

A lot of those Bucs fans are also Gators fans, so Winston wouldn't be well-received even if he had the reputation of Tim Tebow.

 

Jonathan Smith, the QB for co-champion Oregon State, completed 50.2 percent of his passes that year, but averaged 16 yards a completion (of course, he had Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmanzadeh). Joey Harrington of Oregon, the other championship QB (tri-champs that season) completed 52.8 percent. It was a different era. More guys threw the ball down the field instead of doing the little dump pass to the back or the quick passes to the WRs, which greatly inflate today's completion percentages.

 

No way.

Most of these guys are getting paid under the table and it was a laptop, not sexually assaulting a woman. Those two are miles apart.
Cam is two inches taller and in much better shape.
I don't ever remember seeing Cam throw a pass up for grabs like Winston has over and over again.
Cam can run like a deer and is strong on his feet.

Newton was a much, much better pro prospect than Winston. Cam Newton passed and rushed for a combined 35 TDs his rookies season. Hell, I'd wager a 50/50 chance Winston doesn't even do that his entire career.