Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston lit the NFL on fire during his rookie season. While throwing for 4,042 yards along with 22 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, he broke several records during his inaugural NFL season. Although the struggling Bucs won just six games, the season ended with hope surrounding the signal caller who earned a Pro Bowl invite at the end of the season and was named the NFL's Rookie of the Year.
In a recent interview, Tampa offensive coordinator Todd Monken spoke about the quarterback and how he has surprised a lot of people — even Monken himself. Monken spoke with the Tampa Bay Times about Winston overcoming the expectation that he may not perform well in year one thanks to his troublesome time in college at Florida State, which included the sexual assault allegations in 2013 to the crab legs incident in the 2014 offseason.
"It's who he is, how he's wired," Monken said via the Tampa Bay Times. "I think that's one thing that's a misnomer. I think from the outside you would've looked at it with all the things that were publicized in the past about him and who he is. I was dead wrong. He wants to win as much as we do. He's a competitive joker, man, he's smart, he's intelligent...you can win a lot of games with guys like that."
Monken claims that even he fell victim to the social media that surrounded Winston during his college days — which it still does to today given the quarterback's polarity.
"I think that's just general in life, especially with social media today, but even before then,'' Monken said. "Without knowing a person, we make judgements without ever being around them. I think that's just common, that's not just Jameis, that's people. You make thoughts, impressions when you meet someone on Facebook or Twitter or (Snapchat), you think you know them. You think you're a part of their life, you have no idea what they're like until you get around them and you're around them day to day and see what they're about. That's in terms of life, not just him.''
The Bucs begin minicamp on May 23.
