Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer threw his support behind quarterback Jameis Winston.
“Yeah, Jameis has been nothing but a great person since he’s been with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” Glazer told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “And he’s done everything we’ve asked of him. He’s been a great leader. He’s been unbelievable in the community and we have great confidence in Jameis. So we focus on the great things Jameis has done.”
The league began an investigation in November after an Uber driver accused Winston of groping her at the drive-through of a Scottsdale, Arizona, restaurant in March 2016. Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby said he was in the backseat with Winston, and Winston did nothing.
“I can’t get into what other people say and speculate and all that,” Glazer said. “I can only speak to the person that I know, the person I have known. And the person everyone I know knows. That’s what I’ll speak to, and that’s a first-class individual, hard-working, wonderful in the community, a leader and everything that we would’ve hoped for in our quarterback.’'
Earlier Tuesday, Bucs coach Dirk Koetter and General Manager Jason Licht expressed frustration at the slow pace of the NFL’s investigation.
At the same time, Koetter remains hopeful Winston won’t face a suspension.
“To be honest, it is a little frustrating,” Koetter said. “But I really don’t think about that a whole lot because, one, we have no control over it, and two, I’m not involved in it. I mean, I really don’t know where that’s at. I don’t have any knowledge of any of that. It’s just one of those things we don’t have control over so we have to move ahead. I think it was important that we signed Ryan Fitzpatrick back, that’s another guy we signed back that we haven’t talked about. And we have Ryan Griffin coming back healthy. So, you know, very, very hopeful that we won’t miss any time with Jameis but right now we don’t have any control of that.”