Quotes courtesy of the Tampa Bay Bucs
Opening Statement: "I’ve heard that there’s a lot of people over there at the stadium (at the Buccaneers Official Draft Party, Presented by Miller Lite). Heard that’s a pretty good crowd, they’re pretty excited – I wish I was over there. I really wish I was over there right now. Got some work yet possibly to do tonight, but we – man. this is a big thrill for all of us here in the building. We’re so excited to get a guy like Jameis to be our future – start a new era. Any time you get an opportunity to get a franchise quarterback, that we believe and are very confident is a franchise quarterback, it excites you and excitement is a word – trying to think, I can’t even think of a word right now. I’m beyond excited, as well as the entire room up there. He’s a champion, he’s a leader, he’s a winner, he’s got tremendous football character and tremendous intelligence and work ethic. His work ethic was one thing that really, really put him over the top for us. Combined with his leadership and just his – you know I hate to say it, lack of a better word, ‘it factor,’ as well as his ability on the field, which caught our eyes early on in the process, going back over a year, to his first year there at Florida State, playing."
(On Jameis Winston’s character)
"If he wasn’t a good guy, we wouldn’t have used the first pick on him. When we’re doing the exhaustive process that we went through, that I’ve talked about, Lovie’s talked about, ownership has talked about it – how they were comfortable with it. Not only were we comfortable with him and his character, we’re confident in his character. We think that his character that he brings to the locker room and in the building is a strength. That’s one of the things that makes him a great player."
(On the civil lawsuit facing Winston)
"Obviously that’s been in the paper. We anticipated a lot of things, there hasn’t been anything that’s surprised us. One thing that we’re confident in is that that won’t be a distraction for Jameis. He’s played through a lot of distractions."
(On when the team decided on drafting Winston)
"That’s a good question. As a football player, a long time ago. You have to let the process play out with all players. You have to make sure that all players that you’re selecting, you check all the boxes with them. We checked a lot of boxes with Jameis. It’s been quite some time – I don’t want to put a date-stamp on it, but it’s been quite some time. We wanted to make sure that everybody in the building was on board, including coaches (and) scouts, who all did a tremendous job. (Director of Player Personnel) Jon Robinson led a charge that was one that I’ll remember forever. In terms of just the background work we did – not just on Jameis, but on all the quarterbacks. We all came together on this as a consensus."
(On the questions about Winston’s maturity and if he needs to be mentored)
"We have a great locker room. We have one of the best locker rooms I’ve been a part of. Gerald McCoy, Vincent Jackson, Lavonte David, I can go on and on, I know I’m missing somebody here, but we have a great locker room. Jameis is his own man and Jameis is going to heed the advice of a lot of veterans, I’m sure of it. I’ve had discussions with him about that and Jameis is going to be his own man. He has to find his own way, just like all of our players. Anybody that leaves college and enters the workforce, man or woman, these young men become men the minute they’re drafted, all of draft picks. I’m sure he’s going to take advantage of our great locker room and we’re going to rely on our locker room to help out all of our draft picks."
(On if Winston has the ability to play as a rookie)
"I’ll let Lovie talk more about that when he’s here, but usually (when) you take the No. 1 pick, there’s some thought that he could play immediately."
(On the trade market for the No. 1 pick)
"We had interest (from other teams), up until the last minute, or last few minutes. We were never tempted. We wanted to take (Winston) the whole time. You can never not take a phone call, it’s just kind of interesting to hear what some of the offers were. But like we said before, we didn’t want to close the door on it, but we wanted to take him, that was our plan. It would have – I don’t even want to put a price tag on it. He’s a franchise quarterback that we are thrilled to have, so really (I’ll) leave it at that."
(On his message to fans that are skeptical of Winston)
"I appreciate that question. He won us over. He won a lot of people over in this building and around the league. There’s an article I saw that Derrick Brooks had a comment about time – you just have to give it some time and he was afforded some time to prove some people when he came into the league. Obviously Derrick is held in high regard here. And that’s just it, we can’t fast-forward time, but (we) just have to give time and let him prove to everybody – which I’m sure he will."
(On the organization’s support for victims of domestic violence)
"We have been (involved) here, in the past, (including) last year. We continue to educate our employees and all of our players on domestic violence. We feel confident in Jameis and we feel like Jameis – if we didn’t think he is a great person, we wouldn’t have drafted him."
(On Winston’s leadership)
"He raises the bar of all the players around him. Guys start talking football with him and they just want to run out on the sandlot and start having a seven-on-seven practice. Every player that we talked to said that he’s the best leader that they’ve ever played with and that speaks volumes."
(On if the team informed Winston that he was the No. 1 pick prior to drafting him)
"We never told him that officially, ‘You’re going to be a Buc.’ The second I called him and told him that we’re going to make him a Buc, I couldn’t hear much else. It was a lot of yelling and screaming and hugging. He had his whole family there and that’s a very tight-knit group. That was part of the process of getting to know them. He’s got a great mom and dad, a little brother, sister, girlfriend, his grandmother Myrtle. I met Uncle Harry – I met the whole family and they are truly an outstanding group. That’s one of the reasons that we felt very comfortable with him. They’re all there celebrating with him tonight and they deserve to have a celebration. They’ve stood behind Jameis through a lot of things and they’re a big reason why he’s successful."
(On the expectations facing Winston)
"There are big expectations. It’s one of the things with Jameis that set him apart as well. He can play in some pressure now. He plays best in the clutch. You can see that on film, you can see that watching games. The more pressure, the better he plays. That is probably a microcosm of him, in terms of just how he’s going to deal with pressure here. He knows he’s going to be under a lot pressure. The players are excited about it, the coaches are excited about it, this whole building (is excited). Everybody in the building has played a part in this and we’re all very excited."
(On his future being tied with Winston’s and if that concerned him)
"Not at all. It’s not often a general manager gets a chance to draft who he and the coach think is a franchise quarterback. I’m sure it’s similar for Lovie – and you’ll get a chance to talk to him now too – but somebody asked me if it was like Christmas and I said ‘No, it’s more like your wedding day.’ Without the cold feet – I never had cold feet on my wedding day. That’s what it’s like: the buildup, you know it’s coming, it’s finally here, and I’m trying to avoid having a Dick Vermeil moment right now. The process that we went through, there was just a lot of work. Not just for Jameis, but for this entire draft. Which I’ve said could be the biggest draft in the history of this franchise and Jameis has a lot to do with that. We’re beyond excited."
(On if there was one person that impacted the team’s decision to draft Winston)
"We’ve said all along we’re not going to get into the specifics of who we talked to and what they said, but there are quite a few of those. And people that came out of nowhere to give unsolicited opinions that we didn’t even seek out. (People) that weren’t necessarily real close with him, that were outsiders, so it was really a fun interesting process that leads us to today."