During an appearance on PFT Live earlier this month, Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht said that first overall pick Jameis Winston is going to have “every opportunity” to be the team’s starting quarterback in the 2015 season.
Their marketing campaign for the coming year suggests that Winston’s chances of being in the starting lineup are a little bit better than that. The team has released a 30-second ad built entirely around Winston’s presence and it doesn’t take Don Draper to explain that the team is positioning Winston as the face of the franchise.
The ad features highlights of Winston from Florida State, glimpses of him in his Buccaneers uniform and quotes from a variety of talking heads about how good Winston is as a player and as a fit for Tampa.
It’s not surprising that the Bucs are making Winston the focal point since the majority of first overall draft picks have filled a similar role for teams short enough on talent that they wound up with the first overall pick. It may be even less surprising for the Bucs, who have worked hard to sell Winston to their fan base despite the off-field questions that followed him from Tallahassee.
