How on earth did we get here? If you would have told me four years ago that Jameis Winston would be the starting QB of the New Orleans Saints, I would have full on gagged, rolled my eyes, cursed you out, or laughed in your face.

Jameis is a guy I have personally, NEVER been a fan of. Coming out of Florida State, I heard a lot of great things about him. I watched game after game during their National Championship run, where he threw YOLO ball after YOLO ball to Kelvin Benjamin, and for whatever reason it just worked. I was adamant that he would be a bust, because mentally he just “didn’t have it”. Kelvin Benjamin was the star, not Jameis. This spilled over into watching him in the NFL, where he put up crazy stats and head scratching plays all at the same time. I once again pointed to his star WR’s and blamed his mental approach.

On top of what I saw on the field, I pointed to his…. erratic…behavior outside of gametime. He just seemed to always have a screw loose. His eat a dub pre-game speech made me cringe, and it just seemed as though he was a guy no one would want to go into battle with. He was once suspended by his head coach, and still tried to sneak out in full gear to play the game. As a starting QB it either takes MAJOR cajones, or just to be the goofiest bastard on the planet earth. 

Now, with all that negative nonsense I’ve already written, I’m here to say:
 
I WAS WRONG.

The evolution of Jameis Winston has been the most perplexing thing for me. He’s like the weird kid you were always afraid to talk to. A person you would go out of your way to avoid. Then you drunkenly run into them in a bar with mutual friends, and somehow you come to the realization this is the coolest, weirdest, goofiest mother*cker you have ever been around, and you feel dumb for not realizing this sooner.

We can talk numbers all day, and Jameis certainly did put up some great numbers in his short stint last season, with a few flashes of the “shrug” plays as I will now be calling them. But, for me, It’s not the numbers. Jameis will always get his stats. No, for me its what I’ve seen in the time since he joined the team, which has seemingly increased tenfold after this last season. It’s the words I would NEVER think of when I heard Jameis Winston’s name: Maturity, Leadership, Accountability. He has been the first one on the field, and the last to leave in camp this year. He scheduled offseason workouts for the majority of the offense. He also is noticeably saying ALL of the right things.

Jameis as QB1, especially for this team, just feels, right. I’m all about vibes and the vibe is there. His passion, and emotion, is evident in absolutely every interview, every conversation. He is grateful, humble, and simply excited to lead this group. Most of all, he comes across as extremely genuine. While he may have been number 3 for the Bucs, and currently wears number 2 for the Saints, I am going to emphatically let the world know here, he is number 1 in my damn heart, and I’m riding with this guy until the wheels fall off. 

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