A picture of former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston surfaced on Twitter today and immediately led to speculation that Winston is fat and out of shape. But Winston’s private quarterback tutor says that’s not the case.
George Whitfield, who’s guiding Winston through offseason workouts in preparation for the Scouting Combine, told Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead that the picture only makes Winston look fat because he has a tether tied tight around his waist. Call it a reverse corset.
“The photo of Jameis was taken in early-mid January,” Whitfield said. “If people are saying he looks out of shape – well, did they notice he had the leash tight around his waist? That may have had something to do with it.”
The photo may very well be deceiving, although it’s still hard to look at that picture and come away with the conclusion that Winston is in tip-top shape. Still, Whitfield (who has posted more flattering photos of Winston’s training on Instagram) points out that NFL teams will get a very close look at Winston soon enough.
“Jameis is in shape and doing great,” Whitfield said. “Anyone saying he’s out of shape, they can check him out at the Combine this week.”
And that’s the most important point. The Winston photo was good for some Twitter talk during the slow part of the early offseason, but NFL teams don’t need to look at pictures on Twitter. They’ll see exactly what kind of shape Winston is at the Combine.