The Buccaneers brought their final minicamp practice to an early end on Thursday, giving players a chance to get started on their pre-training camp break sooner than expected.
Coach Dirk Koetter said that news was greeted with happiness by all but one player on the team. Quarterback Jameis Winston was “the one guy in the huddle who wanted to keep going” and Koetter sees that as an example of Winston’s dedication to getting better as he heads into his third NFL season.
“I would say Jameis is different in that he knows he can play in the NFL,’' Koetter said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “He knows he can be a successful player. Jameis, no one has higher expectations for his performance than he does. He’s aiming to be elite, not just one of 32. And because he has such high expectations and we have high expectations, it’s a never-ending process. We’re hard on Jameis and he’s hard on himself. Always improving but not where he wants to be.”
One obvious area of improvement for Winston would be turnovers. He’s had 42 through his first two seasons and the hope in Tampa is that his progress along with the acquisition of new supporting pieces in the passing game can keep the ball in their possession more often this season.
If that’s the case, the Bucs could improve on last year’s 9-7 mark and Winston should continue to make the case that he’s a lot more than just “one of 32" starting quarterbacks.